U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), over the weekend, opined that President Joe Biden is "willing to tank the economy" rather than give up some of his spending agenda.
Cruz said as much during an appearance Sunday on the Fox News Channel's Fox News Sunday.
This comes as Biden and Republicans continue to negotiate the debt ceiling. And, the negotiations continue as the U.S. government is rapidly heading toward default.
The U.S. Treasury estimates that the government is likely to run out of money to pay its debts by the beginning of June, which at the time of this writing is a little more than a week away. Others, however, predict that the actual default date may be closer to mid-June.
Over the weekend, Biden was in Hiroshima, Japan, where he attended the Group of Seven conference.
There, while speaking with reporters, Biden commented on the debt ceiling negotiations.
He said:
There are some MAGA Republicans in the House who know the damage that [default] would do to the economy. And, because I am president, and a president is responsible for everything, Biden would take the blame, and that's the one way to make sure Biden is not reelected.
It is this comment that Cruz, in part, responded to during his Fox News appearance.
Cruz said:
[Biden's] view is that he's willing to tank the economy because he's unwilling to give even a penny in the trillions in new spending that have caused the inflation that's hurting Americans all across the country. It's a blatantly unreasonable position. Yet he nonetheless smiles and just blames the other side.
Cruz did not stop there. He went on to rebuke Biden for being in Japan rather than negotiating with Republicans in Washington, D.C.
"Unfortunately, Joe Biden has handed his entire agenda over to the radical left — to the Bernie Sanders and the AOCs of the world," Cruz said.
Reports indicate that Biden did speak, via telephone, with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Sunday during Biden's return trip from Japan.
During that conversation, the two reportedly agreed to meet on Monday to continue the debt ceiling negotiations. But, it appears that both sides are still at an impasse.
Fox Business reports: "House Republicans want to see a deal that contains spending caps, particularly on non-defense discretionary spending, while Democrats have been reluctant to agree to budget cuts."
