Debt ceiling talks plod along

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden is ready to discuss the debt ceiling with congressional leaders at the White House with reverberations across the globe as early outlines of a potential deal begin to emerge from painstakingly slow negotiations.

Raising the stakes, the Tuesday afternoon session came as Biden was preparing to depart for the Group of Seven summit in Japan where the U.S. leadership will be on the world stage later this week. The president and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy are trying to strike a budget deal before the U.S. Treasury runs out of cash to keep paying the nation’s bills, which could occur as soon as June 1.

While Biden has remained upbeat that “we’ll be able to do this,” McCarthy is prodding the president to move faster. The Republican speaker says they need an agreement soon to avoid default. Expectations are low that a deal is imminent. It is more likely that staff talks will continue while the president is overseas.

“How much is too much?” McCarthy said Tuesday about the nation’s $31 trillion debt load, as he pushed for stricter work requirements on government aid recipients as a way to cut spending.

McCarthy stopped short of suggesting Biden cancel his trip abroad. But he said at the Capitol, “We’ve got 16 more days to go, I don’t think I’d spend eight days out of the country.”

Biden was optimistic, saying over the weekend, “There’s a desire on their part as well as ours to reach an agreement.”

It’s the second time in a week Biden has met with McCarthy of California and other congressional leaders at the White House. Biden is confronting a politically divided Congress for the first time on the debt ceiling, a test for both the president and McCarthy, as they work to stave off an economic crisis.

Even as the Democratic president and the Republican speaker box around the politics of the issue – with Biden insisting he’s not negotiating over the debt ceiling and McCarthy working to extract spending cuts – various areas of possible agreement appear to be emerging.

While McCarthy has complained the talks are slow-going, Biden said it took McCarthy all this time to put forward his own proposal after Republicans failed to produce their own budget this year.