Ritchie Torres: ‘The deal is bad,’ but default ‘much worse’

Progressive Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) said Monday that President Biden “did the best he could” in debt ceiling negotiations with Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

“The choice is not between good versus bad. The choice is between bad versus worse. The deal is bad. But the alternative a default on America would be much worse. It would wipe out millions of jobs, it would cut the stock market in half. It would wreak havoc on the retirement security of millions of Americans,” Torres said in an interview on The Hill on NewsNation.

He praised Biden’s negotiating tactics, however, saying the president was “extraordinarily effective at watering down the ransom note from the Republicans.”

“It seems to me the president did the best he could. Republicans originally demanded only a one-year extension of the debt limit. The president secured a two-year extent limit, taking it beyond the 2024 presidential election. Republicans originally were demanding a 22 percent cut in nondefense programs like health care and law enforcement and education; the president negotiated them down to a spending freeze in 2024 and a 1 percent increase in 2025,” the New York Democrat said.

Biden and McCarthy over the weekend announced a deal in principle that would raise the debt ceiling for two years while adding new spending caps during that time. 

The bill now heads to Congress, where it needs to pass both the House and the Senate in the coming days and is facing some backlash from members of both parties. 

The Treasury Department has said the federal government will run out of money to meet its obligations as soon as next Monday.

Updated at 10:15 p.m. EDT