James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
2:37 P.M. EDT
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I'm going to get the day right. Happy Tuesday. And for those of you who are jetlagged, I feel your pain.
Okay, let's get going.
The President and Speaker McCarthy had a productive meeting yesterday about the need to prevent a default and avoid a catastrophi- — I'm sorry — catastrophe — pardon me — for our economy.
They both reiterated that default is off the table and only way forward is good faith — good faith — is in good faith and toward a bipartisan budget agreement.
While areas of disagreement remain, the President, the Speaker, and their teams will continue to discuss the path forward.
Over the past week, the President's negotiating team has proposed options to reduce the deficit that both parties can support while also making clear that there are fundamental priorities that must be protected in this process.
Everyone understands that the consequences of a first-ever default would be severe for the American people and the American economy. It would wipe out as many as 8 million jobs, trigger a recession, devastate retirement accounts, increase costs, damage our international reputation.
All of this would undermine the historic economic progress we've made under this President these past two years: 12.7 million jobs, 3.4 percent unemployment rate, a "Made in America" manufacturing boom, $1.7 trillion in deficit reduction, which is a record.
America is not a deadbeat nation. We pay our bills. We have never defaulted in our history, and we will never.
Lastly, President Biden has made tackling the mental health crisis, particularly among our youth, a top priority. Sadly, there is undeniable evidence that social media was negatively affected youth mental health — has negatively affected youth mental health. Research shows that anxiety, depression, sadness, and suicidal thoughts are on the rise.
Today, during National Mental Health Awareness Month, the Biden-Harris administration is announcing the development of a new interagency task force on kids' online health and safety and a series of additional actions from several agencies to safeguard children's privacy, mental health, and safety online.
Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy also released a new advisory on social media and youth mental health that calls on policymakers, technology companies, researchers, parents, and young people to work together to make social media safer for kids.
These new administration-wide actions will help advance President Biden's national strategy to tackle the mental health crisis and protect the health and wellbeing of our nation's young people.
As we continue to mark Mental Health Awareness Month, the Biden-Harris administration remains committed to ending this crisis and ensuring everyone can access the care they need to live full and happy lives.
With that, Chris, you want to take — kick us off, please?
Q Yeah, a few questions on the budget negotiations.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Sure.
Q Republicans have said the White House has shown a lack of urgency around negotiations. We're nine days from the end of the month, and under House rules it could take four days to get a deal on the floor for a vote. The Speaker wants a deal to be cut this week. What is the White House's deadline for reaching a deal to get it up for a vote in time?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, look, as I — as I stated, the conversations — as the Speaker has stated, as we have stated — have been productive, which is important; clearly that we're moving forward, as I think, just moments ago, the team — the teams who are — the team from the White House who were on the Hill for the budget negotiation, that just ended. They met for hours. And so they're going to be returning and, clearly, give the President an update.
But, look, this is a — this is — this is — this is urgent, but this is not political. This is about doing the work of and the business of the American people. This is something that we have said over and over again for the past five months that this is — this is for Congress to act. This is their constitutional duty.
So, we've been very clear, and we've been — we've shown urgency from here. And, look, we think Republicans saying that — that the White House is not showing any urgency is a ridiculous question — is a ridiculous statement for them to be making.
And so, we've been saying this for months. Congress must ask — Congress needs to act, and we'll continue to lay the line on that.
Q So, oftentimes, when these meetings happen, the White House or other party call them "productive." That's the word that's often used. But can you say that we're actually closer to a deal now than we were last week?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So what I can say is reiterate what the President and the Speaker said. The Speaker said this yesterday: that they — these talks, these conversations — the conversation yesterday was productive.
And I think that's important when you're hearing that. And these types of negotiations, as we know, are very difficult — right? — negotiations. This is nothing new. They are incredibly tough.
