President Biden this week will talk to congressional Democrats about pushing back on Republican policies, as well as building on their own work.
Biden will deliver remarks at the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference in Baltimore on Wednesday, and on Thursday he will attend the Senate Democratic Caucus lunch in Washington, D.C.
“The President will speak to congressional Democrats about building on the progress they have achieved making the economy work from the bottom up and the middle out, as well as combating Republicans’ top-down policies that hurt working Americans,” a White House official said, previewing the remarks at both events.
“He will also highlight the congressional Republicans are now threatening to trigger a catastrophic default if they are unable to take health coverage away from millions of families,” the official added.
Biden and White House officials have said Congress should raise the debt limit without conditions, while some Republicans have argued any vote to raise the debt ceiling should include cuts to government spending.
Biden has also leaned into attacks on the GOP over Social Security and Medicare, battling with Republicans during his State of the Union address over spending cuts to entitlement programs in order to raise the debt ceiling. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has said that any cuts to Social Security and Medicare as part of that deal would be “off the table.”
The president plans to release his budget on March 9 and has called on Republicans to do the same.
Biden this week also plans to thank House and Senate Democrats for “the strength of their unified caucus on both of those core priorities,” the White House official said.
The president will discuss priorities like bringing jobs back to the U.S. and cutting the deficit but making large corporations pay more in taxes.
Biden and the White House have also recently highlighted GOP calls to repeal provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, which they argue could add to the deficit. The White House says repealing tax increases on corporations would add $296 billion to the debt and that repealing provisions of the law that lower the price of prescription drugs would add $159 billion to the debt.
