Republicans have criticized President Biden for traveling to Asia on Wednesday without making any important progress on the debt limit negotiations, despite the country having only two to three weeks before the deadline for default being reached. If the U.S. defaults on its debts it could cause detrimental problems on its financial system.
Biden is going to be in Japan for the Group of Seven (G-7) summit this weekend. However, he did cancel the other portions of his international trip which included stops in Papua New Guinea and Australia so that he could return to Washington earlier and resume talks about the debt ceiling.
Lawmakers have slammed Biden for choosing to take even a shortened trip abroad considering the current situation.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) in an outdoor press conference at the Capitol on Wednesday stated that the country is on the edge of defaulting and despite this, they saw Biden leaving to go to Japan. Capito said that “I’m like stop, stop,” after seeing Biden leave. She proceeded to state that Biden had often claimed to be a good negotiator and yet he had not negotiated with the Republicans at all since February. She added that the lawmakers only returned to the negotiations table last week.
Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) also called for Biden to not go on this international trip and instead to continue negotiating. He added that Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his team have been “responsible, reasonable, and sensible” and that it was time for them to reach an agreement.
The White House has maintained that Biden does not need to be in the Capital to act as the President. This is a line they have always used to explain Biden’s trips away from Washington. However, McCarthy who also suggested that Biden should not have gone to Japan claimed that the president could conduct international business while also handling the debt ceiling negotiations, but that Americans wanted to see a president whose focus is on domestic issues.
