President Joe Biden said he is still refusing to negotiate with Republicans over raising the debt ceiling. And, he is criticizing the other side of the aisle for not yet putting forward their own plan.
During this week’s State of the Union address, Biden said “Next month, when I offer my fiscal plan, I ask my Republican friends to lay down their plan as well. I really mean it.”
Thursday on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program,” U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Hoover) said his party will be releasing a spending plan soon.
“He’s going to get one,” Palmer said. “We’re going to pass a bill that has a number of policy reforms in the bill along with a number of cuts in discretionary spending that we think are appropriate and necessary.”
The congressman emphasized the need for the federal government to get its fiscal house in order.
“The interest on our debt is going to be around $800 billion,” he said. “As the interest rates go up, and we’re still waiting for the final calculations from the Congressional Budget Office, it could be a trillion dollars just in interest.”
Palmer said, while there isn’t an exact date for the bill to be released, it should be done in the next few months.
“It’ll certainly be before June, but I can’t give you an exact timeline,” he said. “And one of the things that you’re going to see about the new leadership in the House is this is not a top down dictator type leadership, this is bottom up. We’re not going to be like Nancy Pelosi. We’re going to give our members an opportunity to give input.
“We’re going to take advantage of the intellect and expertise of our members, and put together the best plan we can. And we’ll be happy to share that with the president.”
Palmer criticized Biden over many of the things said about the GOP during the State of the Union speech Tuesday.
“Yeah he knows we have a plan,” he said. “It goes back to what I was saying, he told one lie after another in his State of the Union speech. And to say that Republicans don’t have a plan, it means that he’s intentionally being disingenuous or he has no clue. It could be a combination.”
Palmer also noted how disappointed he was with the president’s address.
“I thought it was the worse State of the Union I’d ever heard,” he said. “I mean it was not a State of the Union address. There was nothing said that would make the American public have more confidence in the Biden administration or the Democrats’ agenda. It was really a campaign rally speech.
“Very inappropriate for the State of the Union.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
