By Nandita Bose
VALHALLA, N.Y. (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden planned to challenge Republican lawmakers on Wednesday to move quickly to raise the U.S. $31.4 trillion debt ceiling in a Wednesday visit to a congressional district that Republicans won by a narrow margin in November.
The Democratic president's trip comes a day after he met with top Republican and Democratic lawmakers for the first time in three months to try to move forward on the debt ceiling and avoid a historic default that the Treasury Department has warned could come in weeks.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, briefing reporters on Air Force One en route to New York, said Biden felt the meeting was productive in that "everyone in the meeting understood the risks of default."
"The president made it clear that default is not an option and Congress needs to get to work," she said.
In an appearance at Westchester Community College north of New York City in Valhalla, N.Y., Biden also plans to sharply criticize House Republicans' bill to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for steep federal spending cuts, which advisers have dubbed the 'Default on America' act, a White House official said.
White House aides are meeting with congressional leaders' staff in Washington on a daily basis before Biden and the leaders meet again on Friday.
The college is located in a suburban district represented by Republican congressman Mike Lawler, one of a handful of New York Republicans who unseated Democrats in 2022, giving their party its narrow 222-213 House of Representatives majority.
Democrats view Republican House members who narrowly won election as possibly vulnerable to being pressured into breaking with their party's leadership and voting for a bill to raise the debt ceiling without conditions.
House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said Republicans will not vote to raise the borrowing limit without an agreement to cut spending.
Lawler will attend the event with Biden, an aide to the lawmaker said.
The president will also attend two fundraising events for his 2024 reelection bid hosted by wealthy donors - former Blackstone executive Tony James and Executive Chairman of the Libra Group George Logothetis.
Tickets for the James gathering will go for $25,000 per person, according to a memo to donors. Biden announced this year that he would appoint James to his intelligence advisory board.
Logothetis has regularly donated to the Democratic Party and hosted gatherings in support of former President Barack Obama.
While Biden has largely focused on his presidential duties since announcing his bid for re-election, his campaign operation is coming to life.
The events being planned for Biden are expected to generate some $2.5 million for his reelection campaign, according to sources.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Valhalla, additional reporting by Steve Holland, Susan Heavey and Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Heather Timmons, Stephen Coates and Bill Berkrot)
