The reports of President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., meeting to address the United States hitting its debt ceiling and potentially defaulting on its payment obligations — if substantive changes aren't made — might represent a good first step in concocting a bipartisan plan for avoiding a financial crisis.
But Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., says there's still a long road ahead.
"We are going to have to get our fiscal sanity under control," Smith told Newsmax Friday evening, while appearing on "Spicer & Co." with host Lyndsay Keith.
"There has been a huge amount of reckless spending" over the last two years, said Smith, in reference to the Democrat-controlled House adding more than $10 trillion in spending commitments to the U.S. economy, coinciding with Biden taking over the White House in January 2021.
"We [had] to use every tool in the toolbox to make Democrats come to the table," said Smith, who remains irked by 40-year highs in inflation last year.
And much of that chilling effect is still being felt when Americans are paying for groceries and energy bills, added Smith.
Technically, the Treasury Department has until June to solve the debt-ceiling crisis. But Smith said there's no value in intentionally dragging the negotiations over the next few months.
"I sure hope it doesn't come down to a last minute" negotiation with the Biden administration and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Smith.
"Instead of waiting until June, let's solve the problem right now — not wait until the last moment," he said. "So many politicians in Washington like to kick the can down the road.
"We won't default," explained Smith, "but history tells us" that bipartisan solutions can be reached during good-faith negotiations.
The Missouri Republican was referring to 2011 — the last time a Republican-controlled Congress and a Democrat-controlled White House (President Barack Obama and then-Vice President Biden) negotiated their way out of America coming close to defaulting on its many financial obligations.
"Let's take care of this now," Smith said.
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