WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Banking and Appropriations Committees, today joined Your World with Neil Cavuto on Fox News to discuss ongoing debt ceiling negotiations.
Partial Transcript
Hagerty on today’s debt ceiling meeting at the White House: “We have a variety of options before us, but I think what needs to happen is what’s happening at this very moment while we’re talking. They need to be negotiating, and that’s what [Speaker] Kevin McCarthy is doing right now. He’s actually put forward a solution, not just a blank check proposal that [President] Joe Biden continues to harp on that he knows has no chance whatsoever. It’s a dead letter. Actually, what’s happened is that House Republicans have put forward a real solution—one that works. The Senate Republicans are ready to back that solution. So, what we need to do is actually sit down, roll the sleeves up, and get this negotiating underway. I’m glad they’re starting right now […] I think the Democrats just want to continue playing Russian roulette with our nation’s economy, and I think that’s going to have to come to an end. I think the clarity that the House Republicans have brought to light—this is a reasonable proposal that they [have] put together. And I think that Senate Republicans have stepped up and said, ‘We support it. We back it. We want to see you negotiate a solution here—a solution that actually addresses this out-of-control spending.’ And again, the blank check that the Biden Administration is proposing will not work.”
Hagerty on President Biden’s hypocrisy in handling debt ceiling talks: “I think that [Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has] nailed it. And again, he’s pointing out the hypocrisy of the positions that Joe Biden is taking. Again, we need to be realistic here. We need to sit down and address out-of-control spending at the same time that we address lifting the debt ceiling. We can do it. We’ve done it in the past, and if we do not address this out-of-control spending, Neil, at some point, the markets are going to do it for us, and it’s not going to be pretty.”
Hagerty on the House-passed debt ceiling bill: “What we have before us is a realistic solution. It’s something that, I think, has broad-based support. If you talk to the American public, I think they realize that we need to reign in this out-of-control spending, and I think the markets are going to realize it for us if we don’t get this done eventually. So, now is a good time to do it. Now is the time to address it. We have a solution right before us. I hope we can act on it. We should be able to act on it post-haste.”
Hagerty on the potential for a short-term debt ceiling extension: “[Speaker] Kevin McCarthy actually made a very salient point here. He said, look, if something like this does come up, he’s not going to agree to a blank check type of proposal. But if there is an agreement in principle that they can get to, he would be willing to consider that type of short-term answer. I think that’s a reasonable posture to adopt, but they’ve got to get to some sort of principled agreement soon, and I think they need to get it done in the next couple of days. Again, they’re talking as we speak right now; let’s hope they’re making progress.”
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