I hate to do it, I know it is a little boring, but we're going to report on a debt ceiling update. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will be here in just a moment, but first, I wish somebody would explain to me why the White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is attacking Speaker McCarthy and the House Republicans that are briefing today, when in fact Mr. McCarthy's senior emissaries, Congressman Garret Graves and Patrick McHenry journeyed from Capitol Hill to the White House to negotiate with Joe Biden's senior people.
They started at noon today and they're still at it as we speak. That's right. KJP is attacking the people who are inside the same building trying to negotiate a deal and this comes after a long session last night where the White House people were up at Capitol Hill and reportedly made some progress.
In fact, it is possible that a good deal of progress is being made on the key spending issues right now. We are getting positive reports. So, why is the White House press secretary attacking the McCarthy negotiators? It doesn't make one whit of sense. It doesn't promote a deal. Hear all this nonsense for yourself:
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: And let's be clear about what Republicans are demanding in exchange for doing their job and preventing a default. Earlier this year, they put forward an extreme package of devastating cuts that would slash supporting support for education, law enforcement, food assistance. The list goes on and on and on and on. By what now would be about 30%.
YELLEN SAYS ODDS OF US PAYING ALL ITS BILLS BY JUNE 15 IS ‘QUITE LOW’ AS DEBT CEILING DEADLINE LOOMS
She would make a hell of a negotiator, wouldn’t she? "on and on and on," devastating cuts, nonsense. Then, you have these crazy far-left people screaming doom and gloom if one dollar were ever cut from the federal budget even though non-defense discretionary spending has increased roughly $150 billion, or 19% higher than inflation, in just the last few years. This is essentially non-COVID spending now baked into the baseline cake, unless Republicans stop it, which is exactly Speaker McCarthy is trying to do, but for the Democratic radical left, that is the tail wagging today's Democratic dog. Enough spending is never enough. Just listen to them howling:
JAYAPAL: They are willing to crash the economy because they want to continue their extreme tax cuts for the wealthiest corporations and billionaires across the country and guess what? They want you, working people, to finance those tax cuts for the wealthiest.
OMAR: The default that they are threatening would be a horror show. It would be an economic catastrophe that would threaten the day-to-day life of every American.
CASAR: The Republicans, are willing to threaten the global economy over trying to win tax cuts for billionaires.
The Trump tax cuts benefited middle and lower income people and minorities the most and those are facts: CBO, Joint Tax Committee, I mean the analysis has already been made. These are crazy people. This is the far-left tail waging the Democratic dog today.
There isn't going to be any debt default. That's point number one. Point number two: the risk of recession is very high, mainly because of Bidenflation, which has gone up 15% since February 2021 with groceries up 20%, gasoline up 44%, overall energy up 33%, electricity up 21% and real wages down over 7%. All that unfettered spending causing inflation is the real recession culprit.
McCarthy and Co. are trying to stop that and their bill to raise the debt ceiling along with budget reforms, welfare and new energy permitting would not only curb inflation, but would help grow the economy and avoid recession.
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That's why virtually every poll shows that somewhere between 60-80% of voters want a debt ceiling hike accompanied by lower federal spending. Even Joe Biden has surrendered to Speaker McCarthy's point of view and while negotiators are hammering out the details, the Democratic lefties including the White House press secretary are trying to sabotage it.
Tell me again how to spell "DUMB" — or better yet… Save America. Pass the bill. That's my riff.
This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow’s opening commentary on the May 24, 2023, edition of "Kudlow."
