To watch Senator Capito’s remarks, click here or on the image above. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, delivered remarks at the weekly Senate Republican Leadership press conference on the need for President Biden to earnestly negotiate a debt ceiling solution, and engage in bipartisan compromise that he has previously claimed to champion.

HIGHLIGHTS:

SUPPORTING THE HOUSE’S EFFORTS: “You know, it's about time that the president did come to the table to begin negotiations with Speaker McCarthy. I want to congratulate him [Speaker McCarthy] and the House for their efforts. They didn't drag it out to the last day. They got it done on a Wednesday, great for them...”

PROVING DEMOCRATS WRONG: “So, I think what I'd like to do today is, sort of go back to some of the comments Senator Schumer said in November 2022: ‘We'd like to get the debt ceiling done in this lame duck session, and it should be done in a bipartisan way.’ We agree with that. But then in February of this year, he says: ‘We believe the House cannot pass a debt ceiling the way they're talking about. That's what we're saying. Show us your plan, because I don't think you can get one together.’ Well, proven wrong there.”

BIDEN THE “NEGOTIATOR”: “I think it'd be useful for us to go back to when President Biden was candidate Biden when he asked the American people to send him here to be that president that was not going to be in that place we are in right now. So, he says, ‘I'm running to offer our country, Democrats, Republicans, and Independents a different path… [S]ome of the same people are saying, Biden doesn't just get it. You can't work with Republicans anymore. Well, folks, I'm going to say something outrageous. I know how to make government work. I know how to deal with the big issues.’ ‘I try to recognize the limits of where they can go and try to find principled compromise.’ ‘Compromise is not a dirty word. It's how our government was designed to work. I found that my whole life and I will do that as president.’ These are all the statements that he made as he was trying to convince the American people that he would be the best president for us. And yet, when he had his chance, when he sat down with Speaker McCarthy over 80 days ago, he was stuck in the mud.”

FINDING A SOLUTION: “I'm glad he's come to the table. There is a way to find a solution. But it can't be one way, and the other side has no way to do it…I think it's time for the president to lead and negotiate with Speaker McCarthy.”

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