President Biden must come to the table before it's too late

If Democrats and Republicans in power really want to find a solution to this pending financial crisis, it will take compromise.

And credit to the Republicans, who thus far have shown the willingness to come to the table.

For now, that’s just been rebuffed by President Joe Biden, who is demanding a straight forward up-or-down vote on raising the limit, without any discussion on curbing the ever-growing national deficit.

In this case, Biden and other Democratic leadership are wrong.

That’s not to say House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s proposal is right, but it is a starting point to find real solutions, as well as avoid the debit ceiling limit crisis.

Credit to West Virginia’s senators, Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito, who have strongly spoken out in favor of negotiations and compromise.

Manchin, D-W.Va., has always been a deficit hawk despite being a Democrat, which is one of the reasons why some in his party like to criticize him. No one can call Manchin a “tax and spend” Democrat, that’s for sure.

And he’s made known his past concerns with the nation’s deficit, regardless of which political party was in control of the White House and Congress.

Manchin didn’t hold back on his criticism of Biden, calling it a “deficiency of leadership” for Biden’s failure to meet with McCarthy.

“America is facing a historic economic crisis brought on by an abject failure to address our exploding national debt, chronic inflation, a looming recession and the more immediate need to raise the debt ceiling,” Manchin said.

“Our elected leaders must stop with the political games, work together and negotiate a compromise. Instead, it has been more than 78 days since President Biden last met with Speaker McCarthy. This signals a deficiency of leadership, and it must change. The fact is we are long past time for our elected leaders to sit down and discuss how to solve this impending debt ceiling crisis,” he said.

Manchin continues to carry the banner for bipartisan solutions, but it appears as if few from his own party will join the parade.

“While it is reasonable to sincerely disagree with any specific debt ceiling approach, we will achieve a historic default, and the economic whirlwind which follows, if President Biden continues to refuse to even negotiate a reasonable and common-sense compromise,” Manchin said.

“To that end, I applaud Speaker McCarthy for putting forward a proposal that would prevent default and rein in federal spending. While I do not agree with everything proposed, the fact of the matter is that it is the only bill actually moving through Congress that would prevent default. For the sake of the country, I urge President Biden to come to the table, propose a plan for real and substantive spending cuts and deficit reduction, and negotiate now. Failing to do so may score political points with the extremes of the Democratic Party, but make no mistake, it will be the American people — and our nation — who will pay the ultimate price if partisan politics continues to define our politics and policies,” Manchin said.

Capito, in her weekly press briefing, emphasized that the U.S. “can’t default on its debts. We know that,” she said.

“Speaker McCarthy went to the president on Feb. 1 and said, ‘Let’s negotiate.’ It’s now April 20, and the president has yet to come back to the table,” Capito said. “I think the president needs to get to the table and find a way to not default.”

Saying that she liked a lot of what’s in McCarthy’s bill, she reiterated that it still only serves as “beginning of the negotiations.”

So President Biden, what will it be?

Will you continue to make the debt ceiling limit a political tool in an attempt to bolster your party and re-election efforts?

Or will you govern as many Americans expected you to when they elected you in 2020 and as you pledged many times over — to bring us together to forge a better future.

Biden has the tools to find a solution to the debt ceiling limit debate. He just needs to have the will and desire to govern instead of campaign.