Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas criticized President Joe Biden on Wednesday, saying that the president lacks the “mental faculties” necessary to negotiate with Republicans on the debt limit.

Cruz further complained that “radical children” among the White House staff would force the US government into default, reports Fox News.

Even if Joe Biden drives our nation off of a cliff like Thelma and Louise, he’s quite confident the corrupt corporate media will cover for him and blame Republicans. pic.twitter.com/cVU1cn0aOu

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 30, 2023

More than a dozen Republican senators, led by Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, held a press conference to call for Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to agree to their demands for spending cuts and support the House GOP debt limit bill passed last week.

Cruz, speaking in support of the bill, recalled that it was Biden who, as vice president, led talks with the GOP to avert a near-default in 2011.

“President Joe Biden needs to do the same thing. And I’ll say, sadly, the reason he hasn’t so far, I believe, is because his mental faculties are too diminished right now to do what he did in 2011, to sit down and actually work together on a solution to the problems,” Cruz said.

Cruz suggested that Biden needs to do the same thing now but is unable due to his mental state.

“What we’re left with is a bunch of young staffers in the White House, radical children, who are perfectly willing to risk a default on the debt because they have no appreciation of the chaos and misery and damage,” Cruz said.

The senator also expressed his satisfaction that the president had finally agreed to a meeting with the top four Congressional leaders to discuss the debt, an invitation all four have accepted.

Joe Biden is like 142 years old.

Can you imagine Kamala Harris sitting across from Putin or Xi and just cackling? pic.twitter.com/QJACBCkXXR

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 27, 2023

House Republicans passed their bill on April 26, raising the debt limit through March 2024 or by $1.5 trillion, whichever is hit first, and cutting federal spending back to 2022 levels.

Biden and Senate Democrats have opposed the bill, insisting on a “clean” debt ceiling increase with no conditions, something most Republicans have opposed.

In Cruz’s view, “It is a major victory for America that the day before yesterday, Biden finally blinked and said, ‘Okay, I’ll sit down and talk.’ That’s the first step. Now the second step is, let’s solve the problem.”

The Texas senator was critical of Biden’s approach to the issue, suggesting that the president’s mental state was holding him back from negotiating effectively with Republicans.