WASHINGTON (Fwrd Axis) — President Joe Biden continued to apply pressure on Republicans on Wednesday afternoon in a meeting with business leaders at the White House, warning of the dangerous consequences if the U.S. hits the debt limit.
“The Senate Republicans’ position I find to be not only hypocritical but dangerous and a bit disgraceful, especially as we’re crawling our way out of a pandemic,” Biden said. “Our markets are rattled, America’s savings are on the line.”
CEOs and business leaders met with the President and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen both virtually and in person. They all warned that even a potential threat of a default is enough to negatively impact the economy, which would have devastating consequences on the economy around the world moving forward.
“We are, simply put, playing with fire right now,” said Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup.
With the United States just days away from default, the White House is hoping the meetings will be enough to apply pressure on Senate Republicans to step away from their goal to filibuster a bill extending the borrowing limit through Dec. 2022.
“If they don’t want to do the job, just get out of the way,” Biden said, echoing the view other White House officials have said in the past few weeks.
Still, Biden remained hopeful that Congress can manage to come together and get a deal done before the October 18 deadline. If not, millions of Americans would lose out on their social security checks, military members wouldn’t get paid, and questions about the United States economy would begin to swirl.
The country has not been able to pay its bills, which would put the economy and Biden in peril.
“The United States pays its bills. It’s who we are, it’s who we’ve been, it’s who we will continue to be, God willing,” Biden said.
