FILE PHOTO: Republican leader Kevin McCarthy has adopted a hard line ahead of budget negotiations with President Joe Biden. /CFP
The White House on Monday accused the Republican speaker in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, of taking the U.S. economy hostage by attaching conditions to any extension of the country's debt ceiling.
"Speaker McCarthy is breaking with the bipartisan norm...by engaging in dangerous economic hostage-taking that threatens hard-working Americans' jobs and retirement savings," White House spokesman Andrew Bates said.