Mar. 29, 2023: What Dems really think of the GOP’s debt demands

The Playbook Podcast

POLITICO

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3.9 • 699 Ratings

🗓️ 29 March 2023

⏱️ 8 minutes

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Summary

After weeks talking with his rank-and-file about what concessions they’d need from Democrats to raise the debt ceiling, Speaker Kevin McCarthy floated five proposals that could maybe, just maybe, elicit an agreement. We spent yesterday working the phones to find out what Hill Democrats — both lawmakers and senior aides — privately thought about these ideas. First, a caveat: Don’t expect top Democrats to applaud any of these ideas on record right now. The party line, we’re told, remains and will continue to be to resist giving Republicans any concessions — particularly since they raised the debt ceiling three times under Donald Trump without conditions. Democrats and the White House will also continue to demand McCarthy lay out and pass a budget to prove that he’s even worth negotiating with, we’re told. There’s a concern that even if Democrats cut a deal with McCarthy, he won’t be able to deliver votes given his limited hold on the GOP conference. McCarthy’s letter, meanwhile, did not impress Democrats. One senior aide called it nothing more than a “pathetic” attempt to distract from his challenge cobbling together a GOP budget, and almost everyone else said its lack of specifics made it impossible to negotiate over. But behind the squawking, we found that there were in fact some ideas that piqued their interests. We granted anonymity to a half-dozen Democrats to candidly assess the emerging Republican proposals and whether any of them might grow legs … Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter Raghu Manavalan is the host and senior editor of POLITICO's Playbook Daily Briefing.Jenny Ament is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Presented by TikTok.
0:02.0	Hey there, Playbookers. I'm Rugu Mono Volan. What Democrats really think of GOP dead limit talks?
0:10.0	Here's the big thing we're watching on Wednesday, March 29th.
0:14.0	The FBI is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the capture of Roy McGrath, the ex-chief of staff, to former
0:22.9	Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, who is on the run from federal fraud and embezzlement charges.
0:28.7	The Bureau says that McGrath, who was born in Greece, is considered an international flight risk.
0:37.8	After weeks with talking with his rank and file about what concessions they need from
0:42.6	Democrats to raise the debt ceiling, Speaker Kevin McCarthy, floated five proposals that
0:48.6	could maybe, just maybe, elicit such an agreement.
0:52.8	Playbook spent yesterday working the phones to find out what
0:56.4	Hill Democrats, both lawmakers and senior aides, privately thought about these ideas. First, a caveat.
1:03.7	Don't expect top Democrats to applaud any of these ideas on record right now. The party line,
1:10.3	we're told, remains, and will continue to be to resist giving Republicans
1:15.5	any concessions, particularly since they raised the debt ceiling three times under Donald
1:21.1	Trump without conditions.
1:23.1	Democrats and the White House will also continue to demand McCarthy layout and pass a budget
1:28.7	to prove he's even worth negotiating with.
1:31.6	We're told there's a concern that even if Democrats cut a deal with McCarthy, he won't be
1:36.7	able to deliver the votes, given his limited hold on the GOP conference.
1:41.8	But behind the squawking, we found that there were in fact some ideas
1:45.6	that piqued their interests. We granted anonymity to a half dozen Democrats to candidly assess
1:51.9	the emerging Republican proposals and whether any of them might grow legs. Proposal number one,
	...

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