By Charles Boothe, Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BLUEFIELD, W.Va. — Both of the US Senators from West Virginia — Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. — are pushing President Joe Biden to come to the negotiating table to iron out a deal on the nation’s debt limit.
“We can’t default on our national debt,” Capito said Thursday during a virtual press briefing. “But we must have some concessions on spending.”
She said Biden last met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Feb. 1 on dealing with the debt limit, which will have to be raised, but so far Biden has declined to meet again and negotiate.
McCarthy has been adamant about negotiating a way to extend the debt limit, but also to deal with spending limitations.
Manchin called Biden’s lack of response a “deficiency in leadership.”
“America is facing a historic economic crisis brought on by an abject failure to address our exploding national debt, chronic inflation, a looming recession, and the more immediate need to raise the debt ceiling,” Manchin said in a statement Thursday. “Our elected leaders must stop with the political games, work together and negotiate a compromise. Instead, it has been more than 78 days since President Biden last met with Speaker McCarthy. This signals a deficiency of leadership, and it must change. The fact is we are long past time for our elected leaders to sit down and discuss how to solve this impending debt ceiling crisis.”
Manchin said he does not agree with all of McCarthy’s plan but it would serve the purpose. …
