Biden takes jab at House Speaker Kevin McCarthy over debt ceiling

President Joe Biden took a shot at House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Saturday about the debt ceiling after returning from his trip to Europe.

McCarthy and other House Republicans have been critical of Biden for his unwillingness to negotiate with them over the debt ceiling issue.  

Biden said he would speak to McCarthy as long as he "showed him a budget."

"Of course, I'll speak to him. Show me his budget," Biden told reporters on Saturday, according to the Washington Examiner. "That old expression — 'show me your budget.' You know, he — we agreed early on, I'd lay down a budget, which I did on March 9th, and he'd lay down a budget."

Biden said he had no idea what McCarthy or the House Republicans wanted. 

"I don't know what we're negotiating if I don't know what they want," Biden continued. 

McCarthy responded in a tweet. 

"If you gave your child a credit card and they kept hitting the limit, you wouldn't just raise their credit limit—you'd sit down and help them figure out where they could cut back on spending," McCarthy tweeted. "The same is true of our debt. Now is the time for a responsible debt limit increase."

McCarthy and the congressional Republicans want an agreement to cut back spending before they will agree to a new increase in the debt ceiling while Biden wants it without preconditions. 

The U.S. reached its $31.4 trillion debt limit back in January, but by taking what are called "extraordinary" measures, meaning bookkeeping adjustments, all government programs have continued being funded. Those measures are expected to reach their limit sometime between June and August, according to various estimates, so there is growing pressure to get the issue resolved by then.