EXCLUSIVE: White House in New Memo Escalates Messaging Against GOP as Debt Ceiling Talks Stall

The White House signaled Saturday that they are escalating messaging against Republicans as tensions rise between the two parties amid stalled debt ceiling negotiations.

In a memo obtained exclusively by The Messenger, the White House argued that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and “MAGA Republicans” are supporting policies, such as cutting taxes for the wealthy, that would add to the nation’s debt instead of it decreasing.

Pointing to figures released this week by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said that tax cuts to the wealthy would add $3.5 trillion to the United States’ debt over 10 years.

“These numbers say more than any words about who they are fighting for,” Bates wrote in the memo. "With his own actions, President Biden has told the country who he’s fighting for. His budget proposal genuinely attacks our debt by ending wasteful spending on wealthy special interests like Big Pharma and Big Oil."

Negotiations between the White House and top Republicans hit a snag Friday. McCarthy and other Republican leaders said they will not raise the debt ceiling if it does not include passing a budget that would cut spending from the federal government.

Earlier this year, House Republicans voted on a budget bill that would cap discretionary spending for the fiscal year 2024 to the level they were at for fiscal 2022. Now during negotiations to raise the debt ceiling, GOP leaders want a similar bill to be considered in order to come to a deal.

Bates in the memo wrote that the demands from Republicans would devastate thousands of Americans, saying that spending cuts would cause 15,000 law enforcement officers to be fired, terminate over 100,000 teachers, and take health care from millions.

He added that debt increase from tax cuts to the wealthy would exceed any savings that House Republicans would gain from cutting budget spending.

“There is a bipartisan path forward if House Republicans stop allowing the extreme MAGA wing of their conference to dominate their approach to budgeting and come back to the table in good faith,” Bates wrote in the memo.