President Joe Biden snapped at a reporter on Tuesday for asking a simple question about ongoing debt ceiling negotiations.
In January, the U.S. reached its debt ceiling, a statutory limitation on how much debt liability the U.S. government may accumulate. The Treasury Department responded by taking “extraordinary measures” to prevent default. But those measures will expire next month, and without a deal to raise the debt ceiling, the U.S. could default on its debt.
The U.S. is skating dangerously close to default because lawmakers and Biden cannot come to a deal. Republicans want to slash government spending — and stop the snowball of growing debt — but Biden and the Democrats have mostly refused to concede to spending cuts.
At a press conference following a meeting with congressional leaders about the negotiations, a reporter asked Biden about his apparent refusal to agree to spending cuts.
“Speaker McCarthy said that he asked you numerous times if there was anywhere in the federal budget for cuts, but he did not get an answer. So is there anywhere —” the reporter asked before Biden interrupted him.
“He got a specific answer. He got a specific answer again today,” the president interjected.
“Which is what?” the…
