With no deal in sight, Biden takes debt ceiling fight to Republican-held House district

VALHALLA, N.Y. — Having left a meeting with congressional leaders no closer to a deal, President Joe Biden pushed ahead with his fight against the GOP's debt ceiling plan, this time in a competitive House district his party hopes to win back.

Biden traveled to New York on Wednesday for political fundraisers and give remarks at SUNY Westchester Community College in Valhalla, an area north of New York City that he won handily in the 2020 presidential election.

The resounding win by Biden is in stark contrast to last year's midterm elections, when freshman GOP Rep. Mike Lawler flipped the congressional district.

The White House had advertised the Wednesday speech as one in which Biden would denounce a Republican-passed bill tying an increase in federal borrowing authority to spending cuts that Democrats oppose. The event was planned days before Biden's talks on Tuesday concluded with no measurable progress.

Biden's plan to target Republicans appeared to hit a snag on when the congressman said he would attend the Democratic president's event.

Addressing the GOP congressman's presence as he opened his remarks, Biden said Lawler is on the “other team” but he’s “not one of these MAGA Republicans."

"Thanks for being here," Biden added. "This is the way we used to do it all the time."

Biden said that a very "extreme wing" of the GOP that has "taken control" of the House that is "holding the economy hostage" by threatening to default on the national debt. "This would be incredibly damaging," he said.

Lawler voted in favor of the House GOP bill that Biden criticized during the event. The legislation would reduce federal spending, rescind unused COVID-relief funds and reverse Biden's student loan cancellations if it were to become law. It would also return discretionary spending to where it was in fiscal year 2022 and impose a 1% growth cap, which the White House says would hurts veterans, teachers and seniors.

Lawler said in a pair of tweets before the event that he intended to discuss the debt limit with Biden when he visited his district and hoped to see "real movement" from the president on a long-term spending agreement.

"We must have long-term spending cuts, and we must not default," Lawler said in a video in which he committed to protecting seniors, veterans and low-income Americans.

The White House declined in its daily briefing on Tuesday to comment on Lawler's anticipated attendance.

In a statement later, it acknowledged that Biden would visit a Republican-held district and underscored the president's desire to reduce "wasteful spending" by cutting subsidies to oil companies and expanding Medicare's ability to negotiate drug prices. Biden has also sought to decrease the federal deficit by raising taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations, the White House noted.

Lawler told reporters after the event that his conversation with Biden was "very cordial" and "wasn't contentious in any way." He said that Biden told him he wasn't in his district to pressure or hurt him in any way.

He said that after speaking with him, he hopes that Biden recognizes, that just because he is supporting the GOP bill, that doesn't make him an extremist. "We can not continue to spend and borrow and print new money at these levels, period," he said. "The Joe Biden of old knows that you have to negotiate, you have to work together in a bipartisan way. And frankly, I think he appreciated the fact that I showed up."

Biden pressed GOP lawmakers to increase the United States' spending limit with no strings attached in an Oval Office meeting that Democratic leadership in Congress also attended. But in remarks after the meeting, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said leaders made little progress toward an agreement.

"I didn't see much difference in the statements," McCarthy said.

The two sides remain at a stalemate over how to avoid defaulting on the United States' financial obligations, and the White House has repeatedly said that Biden is not going to budge. The president is pushing for spending negotiations to take place as part of the annual budget and appropriations process.

"I told congressional leaders that I'm prepared to begin a separate discussion about my budget and spending priorities, but not under the threat of default," Biden told reporters after his remarks.

Biden and the bipartisan group of congressional leaders, which included House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, are expected to meet again on Friday.

"Let's discuss what we need to cut, what we need to protect, what new revenue we can raise, and how to lower the deficit to put our fiscal house in order," Biden said in remarks after the meeting.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden takes debt limit fight to Republican-held House district