By msnbc’s Xuan Thai
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) called out Republican leaders on the debt limit fight, saying that they’re trying to “create a crisis” over the debt limit to hurt Democrats, including President Obama.
“They want to create a crisis so people say ‘oh my goodness maybe we if we change everything, things will be better. Maybe we need a different president’,” Sen. Boxer told The Daily Rundown’s host Chuck Todd.
“It’s interesting that they’re setting up a debt fight, [Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell and [Republican House Speaker John]Boehner, over the future debt ceiling. Making it a crisis when it isn’t a crisis and demanding more cuts when they’re not living up to the cuts the already agreed to,” Sen. Boxer continued.
Sen. Boxer was referring to Republican attempts to renegotiate the $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts agreed to during last year’s debt ceiling negotiations. Republicans are trying to avoid the deep cuts in defense spending and are proposing alternatives to the sequestration.
Both sides are gearing up for a battle over the next debt ceiling increase. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has said that the federal government could run out of money again by the end of the year.