Durbin: Speaker McCarthy is 'playing political poker' in debt ceiling standoff
CHICAGO (CBS) – Lawmakers in Washington have just one week to raise the debt ceiling or risk defaulting on the U.S. debt for the first time in history.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) and President Joe Biden are both optimistic that a deal can be reached in time. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) is putting pressure on McCarthy.
"Speaker McCarthy in Washington is playing political poker with other people's money," Durbin said. "What I mean by that is his failure to reach an agreement on the budget in Washington and his threats to see America default on its debts for the first time in history are starting to be felt across America."
For his part, McCarthy has said he's "trying to be very reasonable about this. We have to spend less this year than we spent last year. We should cut red tape so we can build things in America again. We should save money, money that we appropriated like in COVID funds that have sat there…Those should come back."
The biggest sticking point is spending. Democrats want to freeze spending at existing levels, while Republicans want cuts.