Biden and Harris planning 2024 fundraisers amid impending debt default

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are reportedly planning their first 2024 re-election campaign fundraisers as the country nears a June 1 deadline to raise the debt ceiling or face a possible default. 

The fundraisers could come as soon as next week, according to Reuters, with events being planned in New York and Georgia. 

Biden is expected to attend a reception and dinner in New York City on May 10 to kick off his quest for a second term, according to the news outlet, one day after a scheduled high stakes meeting with congressional leaders to discuss raising the nations borrowing limit.

Harris, meanwhile, will reportedly be dispatched to the Peach State for a campaign fundraising event on May 12.

The vice president is already scheduled to be in Atlanta that day for a state Democratic Party event.

Reuters reports that the inaugural campaign events for Biden, 80, will be intimate, small-group gatherings of about 40 major donors. 

The events are expected to bring in some $2.5 million for the Biden campaign, which has already spent over  $1 million on Google and Facebook ads since the president’s April 25 re-election announcement.

At a Democratic National Committee reception last week, Biden praised volunteers for helping him raise over $1 billion in his 2020 presidential campaign, and he said he would need their help again this cycle.

“You raised more money for me last time than I raised in my whole life,” Biden said at the event in Washington. “It’s because of you I’m standing here, and it’s going to be because of you we win this next time around.”

The Biden campaign’s 2024 ramp-up comes after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen issued a dire warning that the US government could default on its obligations as early as June 1, unless Congress acts to either raise or suspend the debt limit.

House Republicans last week narrowly passed a bill to increase the debt ceiling in exchange for non-defense discretionary spending cuts and limits on future spending increases, but Biden and Senate Democrats – who prefer a clean bill to increase the debt ceiling – say it’s a non-starter. 

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has accepted an invitation to meet with Biden on May 9 at the White House to discuss the debt ceiling. 

The president also invited Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) to the White House for the discussion.