David A. Hopkins, Columnist

Will Biden and McCarthy Choose Compromise or Humiliation?

The intensifying standoff over the debt limit is really two separate battles, one substantive and one political.

May 8, 2023 at 11:30 AM UTC

David A. Hopkins is an associate professor of political science at Boston College and the author of "Red Fighting Blue: How Geography and Electoral Rules Polarize American Politics."

Big meeting coming up.
Photographer: Drew Angerer/Getty Images North America

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President Joe Biden will meet Tuesday with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to discuss the national debt ceiling, but their intensifying conflict is really two fights in one. Whether this standoff is easily resolved may depend on which battle they decide to focus on.

Democrats and Republicans disagree over the substance of fiscal policy, but they are also engaged in partisan politics. So they can choose to treat their dispute as an opportunity for substantive deal-making — or use it to try and humiliate their political opponents.