McCarthy accuses Biden of pivoting to ‘socialists’ on debt ceiling talk

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Sunday accused President Biden of suddenly pivoting to the demands of the Democrats’ “socialist wing” on the debt ceiling negotiations.

The California Republican said that after 97 days of being ignored by the president, the possibility of a fair deal appeared close at hand until Biden suddenly chained his mind to appease Democrats following Sen. Bernie Sanders‘ press conference on Friday.

“Now, the president, even though he was overseas, thought to change places… I don’t understand that,” McCarthy told Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”

“The president has really shifted right after the more progressive socialist wing of the party stood up and says they want to spend more money,” McCarthy continued. “He’s now bringing something to the table that everyone said was off the table.

“It seems as though he wants a default more than he wants a deal.”

Despite the friction with the president in recent days, McCarthy said that he had a “productive” phone call with Biden on Sunday, and that the two will meet on Monday to negotiate further.

While McCarthy and his party say that there is clear room for cuts in the US budget, Sanders and other progressives have slammed the GOP’s efforts as detrimental to Americans who rely on social welfare programs. Meanwhile, Republicans have stood against Democrats’ efforts to impose tax hikes for the wealthy.

The House Speaker said that while the US is seeing a surplus in income, the nation’s spending and borrowing from foreign powers, such as China, has become worrying, and he warned that America needs to cut back in order to keep its economy in order.

“We can solve this problem and make our economy stronger,” McCarthy said. “Curve inflation and be less dependent on China and really focus on American problems with American solutions.”

McCarthy claimed he and Biden were close to reaching a consensus on this, but it was upended when Sanders joined a group of Democrats in urging the president to use the 14th Amendment to bypass congressional negotiations on the debt ceiling.

Biden, during a news conference in Japan, claimed he’d done all he can and that there was no more wiggle room for negotiations, adding he would be “blameless” if the US should default on its debt.

Biden, who was attending a G-7 economic summit in Hiroshima, claimed it was “MAGA Republicans” who hijacked the debt ceiling talks in hopes of tanking the economy and hurting the president’s 2024 re-election campaign.

As he boarded Air Force One to return to Washington Sunday morning, Biden said that “it’s time for Republicans to accept that there is no deal to be made solely, solely, on their partisan terms.”

He added: “Now it’s time for the other side to move from their extreme position.”

Despite suggesting that they won’t be open to giving up on their demands, McCarthy and Biden said they both hope to “find common ground.”

Biden and McCarthy have just days to strike a deal to raise the debt ceiling, the government’s borrowing limit.

The Treasury Department has warned that it will run out of funds to pay incurred debt – currently at $31 trillion – on June 1.