Rep. Jason Smith calls for negotiations on debt ceiling, criticizes Biden administration for Title 42 expiration

Southeast Missouri U.S. Rep. Jason Smith said "there is a pathway to somewhere in the middle" in the current debt ceiling impasse ahead of a projected Thursday, June 1, government federal default.

Negotiations between House Republicans and the White House are slated for Tuesday, May 16, to avoid what economists are calling a potential fiscal cliff if the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling is not raised in the next 15 days.

"The president and Senate Democrats' extremist behavior in not wanting to negotiate or even talk about the debt limit has been very, very reckless," said Smith, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, in remarks to Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo on Friday, May 12.

Smith, 42, accused President Joe Biden and Senate Democratic leaders of wanting a "blank check" debt limit, in his comments to Bartiromo.

On April 26, the GOP-controlled U.S. House passed the Limit, Save and Grow Act, which includes the following provisions:

• Raise the debt limit to $1.5 trillion and cap government spending to 2022 levels.
• Impose a 1% cap on the increase in future annual spending.
• Rescind the ability to disburse unspent COVID-19 funds.
• Abolish student loan payment relief.
• Cancel IRS funding earmarked for new agency staff.

President Biden told White House reporters last week that if talks do not bear fruit, he plans to leave Wednesday, May 17, for a Group of Seven economic summit in Hiroshima, Japan.

Additionally, Biden said if negotiations look promising, he could participate "virtually" in talks while at the G-7 meeting.

The debt ceiling, which has been raised nearly 80 times previously — including three times during the Trump administration — is the maximum amount of money the government can legally borrow to cover its spending.

A website usdebtclock.org shows the federal deficit in real time.

Title 42

Smith, in an email to constituents Monday, May 15, criticized the White House for permitting the Trump-era implemented policy known as Title 42 to expire Friday.

Title 42 of the U.S. Code was a previously rarely-used clause of the 1944 Public Health Services Law that was implemented in 2020 to prevent migrants from entering the U.S.

"President Joe Biden is getting closer and closer to making America the only nation in the world without borders," read Smith's email.

"At one illegal immigrant detainment facility I visited in the Rio Grande Valley last year, Border Patrol officials told me that Title 42 allows them to deport at least half of the thousand or so occupants of that facility back to their home countries in Central America. Without Title 42, all would be released inside the United States."

Smith, who has held Missouri's 8th District seat since 2013, represents 28 southern and southeastern Show Me State counties in Congress.