- Kevin McCarthy unveiled his bill to raise the debt ceiling this week, but it faces pushback from some Republicans.
- AOC wrote on Instagram that Democrats should not be negotiating with Republicans right now.
- "Republicans are too much of a mess right now to do so," she wrote.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez thinks Democrats should stay out of the GOP's chaotic internal debate over the debt ceiling.
On Wednesday, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy finally unveiled the text of his bill to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for $4.5 trillion in budget cuts, and he plans to bring it to a House floor vote next week. Since January, McCarthy and President Joe Biden have been at odds over the best approach to raise the debt ceiling and prevent the US from a financially catastrophic default.
McCarthy wants to negotiate a deal to raise the debt ceiling that would include a range of spending cuts — including banning student-loan forgiveness and bolstering work requirements on welfare programs — while Biden has been adamant that Democrats will not negotiate over keeping the country out of default.
But even after McCarthy released the legislation, some members of his own party have not been fully on board — and in light of that, Ocasio-Cortez said Democrats should "definitely not" negotiate with McCarthy.
"Republicans are too much of a mess right now to do so," she wrote in response to a question on the topic on her Instagram story. "Republicans can't even get their own party behind one plan, let alone both parties. Negotiating with that is like trying to nail jello to a tree," she continued. "What is there to even negotiate?"
"McCarthy is a mess," she added. "Which of course is how this whole thing started. The situation is very concerning honestly because mess or not the GOP was elected to govern and they really cannot."
While McCarthy has expressed confidence his bill will get enough votes to pass the House, telling reporters on Thursday that he thinks "we're in very good shape," some of his colleagues aren't so sure. GOP Rep. George Santos told reporters that he is "solidly" against the bill, and other lawmakers wanted work requirements to be stricter than what McCarthy proposed.
"There are a few cleanup things that we need to discuss," House Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry told reporters. "And that's just one of them."
Still, even if the bill does pass the House, that's probably as far as it will go. The Democratic-majority Senate would likely vote it down, and even if it makes it through both houses of Congress, Biden would almost certainly veto the bill should it make it to his desk. And the president is still not budging — he's continuing to push for a clean debt ceiling increase.
"Just two days ago, the Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy went to Wall Street to describe the MAGA economic vision: massive cuts to programs you count on, massive benefits protected for those at the top," Biden wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. "Folks, it's the same old trickle-down dressed up in MAGA clothing."
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