Vice President Joe Biden, back from vacation in the midst of a government shutdown and debt ceiling negotiation, was likely kept out of negotiations because Democrats didn’t want him around, former Bush White House adviser Karl Rove said.
Karl Rove Speculates on Joe Bidens Absence in Debt Negotiations
Vice President Joe Biden addresses the 4th National J Street Conference at the Washington Convention Center, Sept. 30, 2013 in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images)
Speaking on Fox News, Rove said many on the left of the Democratic Party felt Biden gave too much away during the fiscal cliff negotiations at the end of 2012, when a deal was worked out between the vice president and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
“Up to this point, it appears that the Senate Democratic leadership said, we don’t want him around,” Rove said. “If the president wants to have the vice president in a meeting, he’s going to be in a meeting.”
Biden served in the Senate from 1973 through 2009 before taking office as vice president, where he is the president of the Senate. He has frequently been an administration point man for budget negotiations with Congress.
But at a time when the administration has insisted a deal must be reached to end the partial government shutdown and extend the debt ceiling, the White House schedule said Biden and wife Jill would be on vacation at Camp David with no scheduled events from Oct. 12 through Oct. 14.
On Sunday, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was critical of Biden not participating in the negotiations.
“I hope the president will become engaged,” McCain said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “Maybe we need to get Joe Biden out of the witness protection program.”
On Monday afternoon, the White House announced that Biden and President Barack Obama would be meeting with a bicameral, bipartisan group of lawmakers to reach a deal on the debt ceiling set for 3 p.m. But at 2:41 p.m., the White House announced the meeting has been “postponed to allow leaders in the Senate time to continue making important progress towards a solution that raises the debt limit and reopens the government.”
The Treasury Department warns that the federal government must increase the $16.7 trillion debt limit by Thursday.
Rove said that must have changed.
“Look, the president wants him in the meeting. That’s because a lot of big issues have to be settled here,” Rove said.
Rove outlined some of the dividing lines between the sides:
• The Senate Democrats want a shorter continuing resolution, while Senate Republicans want a longer continuing resolution, or temporary spending bill.
• Democrats want a longer debt ceiling increase of six months or a year. Republicans want a shorter increase to provide leverage to negotiate more budget cuts.
• Democrats want to do away with the sequester spending levels and spend $92 billion above the sequester. Republicans want to maintain the sequester.
• Another point is Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who has legislation to delay the medical device tax and to provide proof of income to get Obamcare subsidies.
• In the House, Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) is pushing for offsetting the debt ceiling increase with $450 billion in spending reductions that Obama has already asked for in his budget.