McCarthy is dragging Biden to the table – but who is really ‘on the clock’?

The honeymoon phase of Kevin McCarthy’s time in as House speaker might be coming to a close soon, as he calls on the Biden administration to begin negotiations on the debt limit.

Mr McCarthy took his first crack at trying to get to an agreement when he sent a letter to President Joe Biden trying to bring him back to the negotiating table before the United States is set to default on its debt.

“I have no interest in brinksmanship – only in doing what’s best for the American people,” he wrote. The letter listed a series of proposals such as reducing non-defence spending; recouping unspent money for Covid-19 relief; strengthening work requirements for welfare recipients (which he noted that Mr Biden supported as a Senator); and increasing border security to stop the flow of fentanyl.

“Mr President, simply put: you are on the clock,” he said.

Almost immediately, though, Mr Biden sent a letter in response telling Mr McCarthy there would be no negotiating, given that Democrats and Republicans had voted for debt limit increases in previous Congresses without preconditions.

“Separately, as you and I discussed earlier, I look forward to talking with you about our Nation’s economic and fiscal future,” Mr Biden wrote. “But for that conversation to be productive we should both tell the American people what we are for.”

Similarly, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “Speaker McCarthy and his extreme MAGA caucus have refused to put out a budget.”

To boot, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer echoed the president’s comments on Wednesday.

“Republicans have been utterly flailing: one day they say they’ll release a budget, then they say they can’t release a budget,” he said. “One corner of the party says certain programs are off the table, and then another group of Republicans suggests the opposite.”

Democrats can do this because they know that Mr McCarthy has fewer negotiating chips than they do. Any piece of legislation that the House Republican conference proposes would likely immediately be savaged, not just by House Democrats, which is a given, but by more conservative factions of the GOP conference.

On top of that, they also know that the Senate would immediately scoff at any legislation if the House somehow miraculously passes something that every Republican would support.

But the White House is also likely doing this because they know Republicans can’t come to an agreement within themselves.

For their part, Republicans seem to know there is an impasse. On Tueday, House Financial Services Chairman Patrick McHenry of North Carolina admitted to Punchbowl News that “I don't see how we get there. And this is a marked change from where I've been. I don't even see a path.”

Mr McHenry is a close ally of Mr McCarthy, a fiscal conservative and one of the best whips in the House. During the speaker fracas, he frequently led negotiations. For him to admit a standstill shows just how much trouble Republicans face.

And it seems like at least one Republican chafed at implementing hardline immigration proposals. Representative Tony Gonzales of Texas, who represents an area of the US-Mexico border, flat-out rejected some proposals.

“Bring un-Christian anti-immigrant bills to the floor and I am a NO on the debt ceiling,” Mr Gonzales tweeted. As Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman noted, this was seen as a not-so-subtle swipe at fellow Texas Republican Representative Chip Roy.

Ironically, Mr Gonzales backed Mr McCarthy in the vote for House speaker from the beginning, whereas Mr Roy was part of a group of Republicans who initially opposed Mr McCarthy. Though unlike Reps Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert, he ultimately relented and Mr McCarthy put Mr Roy and fellow holdout Rep Ralph Norman of South Carolina on the incredibly powerful House Rules Committee.

And this explains why the White House is playing hardball with Mr McCarthy: They know that for him to get the most conservative members of his conference, including the members who despise him, he has to support proposals that will influriate his allies. And as long as that’s the case, Mr Biden can afford to run out the clock.