WASHINGTON – Today on the floor, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) discussed debt ceiling negotiations and called on President Biden to cancel his trip to Japan to work on a deal before the U.S. defaults. Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn’s remarks are below, and video can be found here.

“Given the already fragile state of the economy, a default is the very last thing we need.”

“The White House insisted time and time again that the President wouldn’t drop his demand for a clean debt ceiling increase.”

“The President has finally caved in, as we knew he ultimately would. He’s finally accepted the inevitable reality that a bipartisan compromise is the only way to avoid a debt crisis, but that’s been obvious from day one.”

“I hope that means they’ll come with a serious offer, but we still have a long way to go because once a deal is reached, there’s still going to be a lot of work that needs to be done.”

“Secretary Yellen said the U.S. could default as early as June 1, which is 16 days away. With this as a backdrop, President Biden is planning to hop on a plane to Japan tomorrow.”

“He can’t fly halfway around the globe just as negotiations are gaining momentum.”

“The President wasted months that could have been spent on hashing out a bipartisan compromise to avoid a debt crisis, and he knew from the very beginning that ultimately he would have to negotiate.”

“Now is the time for the President to take this crisis seriously and to own his responsibility to negotiate a successful outcome.”