"Problem Solver" Democrats Try to Broker Debt Deal with Republicans, Create Problems For Biden

[babylonsister]

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/04/problem-solver-democrats-debt-negotiations

"Problem Solver" Democrats Try to Broker Debt Deal with Republicans, Create Problems For Biden
Joe Biden has held firm that Kevin McCarthy must release a budget of his own before starting negotiations on the debt limit. But a centrist group of Democrats is bucking the administration's strategy, trying to develop a “plan B” with Republicans.
By Eric Lutz
April 3, 2023

snip//

Washington had been bracing for a fiscal fight since Republicans won a narrow House majority in November — and since their most extreme members extracted a number of significant concessions from McCarthy in his hunt for the speaker’s gavel. But this standoff has been more a circus than a fight: McCarthy, on behalf of his motley and disordered caucus, has called for deep cuts to the federal budget, but has declined to say what, exactly, those cuts should be, instead demanding that Biden figure it out himself. “I want to look the president in the eye [and hear him] tell me there’s not one dollar of wasteful spending in government,” McCarthy told reporters in January.

Biden has refused to do this. He has instead released a budget, called on Republicans to do the same, and declined to meet with McCarthy until they do. “Let’s see their budget. Let’s see…the cuts that they want to talk about,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters last week. “And that is what we will negotiate on.”

That’s apparently frustrated McCarthy, who turned to insults last week in his latest request for a lunch meeting at the White House. “I would make it soft food if he wants,” McCarthy said at a press conference, an apparent dig at Biden’s age. But the administration sees that frustration as a sign of potential progress. “There’s starting to be more appreciation that the full faith and credit of the United States is not a source of leverage,” a White House official told Politico.

That bargaining position could be undercut by the Problem Solvers Caucus, a group developed by the centrist No Labels organization (which Democrats also increasingly fear could run a spoiler third party candidate in 2024) that often bills itself as the adults in the room. But, as McCarthy and his allies hold the economy hostage, helping Republicans come up with their demands could make the Problem Solvers complicit in the far-right’s reckless political posturing.

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https://problemsolverscaucus.house.gov/media/press-releases/problem-solvers-caucus-announces-membership-and-executive-council-118th

snip//

Membership of the Problem Solvers Caucus for the 118th Congress includes:



Don Bacon (NE-02)

Salud Carbajal (CA-24)

Ed Case (HI-01)

Lori Chavez-DeRemer (OR-05)

Juan Ciscomani (AZ-06)

Ben Cline (VA-06)

Angie Craig (MN-02)

Jim Costa (CA-21)

Henry Cuellar (TX-28)

John Curtis (UT-03)

Don Davis (NC-01)

Anthony D’Esposito (NY-04)

Debbie Dingell (MI-06)

Chuck Edwards (NC-11)

Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01)

Michael Gallagher (WI-08)

Andrew Garbarino (NY-02)

Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03)

Jared Golden (ME-02)

Tony Gonzales (TX-23)

Jenniffer González-Colón (PR-AL)

Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05)

Josh Harder (CA-09)

Steven Horsford (NV-04)

Chrissy Houlahan (PA-06)

John James (MI-10)

Bill Johnson (OH-06)

Dusty Johnson (SD-AL)

David Joyce (OH-14)

Thomas Kean (NJ-07)

Dan Kildee (MI-08)

Young Kim (CA-40)

Nick LaLota (NY-01)

Greg Landsman (OH-01)

Mike Lawler (NY-17)

Susie Lee (NV-03)

Nancy Mace (SC-01)

Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11)

Dan Meuser (PA-09)

Marc Molinaro (NY-19)

Blake Moore (UT-01)

James Moylan (GU-AL)

Wiley Nickel (NC-13)

Donald Norcross (NJ-01)

Jimmy Panetta (CA-19)

Chris Pappas (NH-01)

Mary Sattler Peltola (AK-AL)

Scott Peters (CA-50)

Brittany Pettersen (CO-07)

Dean Phillips (MN-03)

Maria Salazar (FL-27)

Hillary Scholten (MI-03)

Brad Schneider (IL-10)

Elissa Slotkin (MI-07)

Chris Smith (NJ-04)

Darren Soto (FL-09)

Abigail Spanberger (VA-07)

Bryan Steil (WI-01)

Haley Stevens (MI-11)

Emilia Strong Sykes (OH-13)

David Trone (MD-06)

David Valadao (CA-22)

Brandon Williams (NY-22)

[Mad_Machine76]

1. More like

"Problem-Causing" Democrats. The Republicans are imploding on their own. We shouldn't be throwing them a life preserver.


And how scared are we really about a "No Labels" candidate in 2024? Is that a real concern?

[aocommunalpunch]

3. The name alone makes me cringe.

It's telling me to look at the group with skepticism.

[Mad_Machine76]

5. It's very cringe.

[JHB]

11. "No Labels" has been a faux-centrist scam since its inception

It takes advantage of lazy cynicism of "both siderism" (especially the MSM's "if both sides are are yelling at me, I must be doing something right).

Never trust a group that was founded by and where a key figure is Joe Lieberman.

[dchill]

2. Problem SOLVERS?

A misnomer of gargantuan proportions.

[Fiendish Thingy]

4. The Sabotage Squad is at it again

Pelosi wouldn’t have let this get this far.

[PufPuf23]

6. Disappointing. Now is the time, if ever, to stand strong and united. nt

[Cha]

7. That's a Lot of them.. some surprises

that they would negotiate with Terrorists.

[kacekwl]

8. Mr. Brad Schneider Illinois will

be receiving a call from me on Wednesday. Solidarity dems please.

[Phoenix61]

9. In case anyone was wondering what the goal of the

No Labels group was I think we found the answer. Would love for a real journalist to follow the money behind them.

[scarletlib]

10. Biden should tell them in no uncertain terms is that you don't negotiate with terrorists.

You don’t give the blackmailer what he wants.

The only problem here is Republicans trying to take down the economy for political reasons.