(The Hill) – After President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) signed off on a final budget agreement and a raise of the debt ceiling, the two sides moved onto a difficult task: selling the legislation to their respective parties to get it passed through Congress.
Conservative Republicans and progressive Democrats have been quick to voice concerns with certain aspects of the deal, with each side expressing worry that their leadership gained too little or conceded too much in negotiations.
White House officials and McCarthy’s team spent much of Sunday working to spin the deal as a victory for their own side and assure members that it was the other party that ultimately caved on certain priorities.
“Right now the Democrats are very upset,” McCarthy said on “Fox News Sunday,” asserting that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffires (D-N.Y.) told him “there’s not one thing in the bill for Democrats.”
In remarks Sunday evening, Biden said the final agreement “protects key priorities and accomplishments and values that congressional Democrats and I have fought long and hard for.”
Asked what he would say to members who believe Biden made too many concessions, the president responded, “They’ll find I didn’t.”
The White House has focused on reassuring Democrats about the bill largely by pointing to ways that it is significantly watered down from the Republican legislation that passed the House in late April, dubbed the Limit, Save, Grow Act.
While the 99-page bill does include changes to work requirements for government assistance programs, White House officials argued the agreed upon language would have “much less severe consequences” than the House GOP legislation.
The White House has also argued that the overall spending agreements are ultimately a win for Democrats. A White House source argued the deal would help avert “enormous cuts to key programs and investments.”
And officials were also quick to point to key priorities that were left untouched in the final legislation, including that there are no changes to Medicare work requirements and that veterans medical care will be fully funded.
Perhaps the broadest argument the White House will make to persuade Democrats to back the agreement is that passing the bill would mean raising the debt ceiling and averting a default that experts warned could have triggered a recession and sunk the economy that will be central to any reelection campaign for Biden.
How White House and GOP leaders are working to sell the budget deal
Categories: Economic History
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