Republicans return to debt-limit negotiation

Debt-limit talks resumed at the U.S. Capitol late Friday, a sudden turnaround after negotiations came to an abrupt standstill earlier in the day when Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said it’s time to “pause” negotiations, and a White House official acknowledged there are “real differences.”

The official, who was granted anonymity to talk about the private discussions, confirmed late Friday the talks were back on.

“We’ll be back in the room tonight,” McCarthy said on Fox Business News.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is racing to strike a deal with Republicans led by McCarthy as the country careens toward a potentially catastrophic debt default if the government fails to increase the borrowing limit, now at $31 trillion, to keep paying its bills.

Earlier in the day, McCarthy said resolution to the standoff is “easy,” if only Biden’s team would agree to some spending cuts Republicans are demanding. The biggest impasse was over the fiscal 2024 topline budget amount, according to another person briefed on the talks and granted anonymity to discuss them.

Democrats staunchly oppose the steep reductions Republicans have put on the table as potentially harmful to Americans.

“We’ve got to get movement by the White House and we don’t have any movement yet,” McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol. “So, yeah, we’ve got to pause.”

The White House official had said at that time there are “real differences” between the parties on the budget issues and further “talks will be difficult.”

A White House official said there are ‘real differences’ between the parties on the budget issues and further ‘talks will be difficult’