Biden, Mccarthy start debt talks
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin Mccarthy met face-to-face Wednesday for more than an hour of highly anticipated spending talks — “a good first meeting,” the new Republican leader said — but expectations were low for significant progress as GOP lawmakers push for steep budget cuts in a deal to prevent a national debt limit crisis.
Biden has resisted direct spending negotiations linked to vital action raising the nation’s legal debt ceiling, warning against potentially throwing the economy into chaos. But the Republican leader all but invited himself to the White House to start the conversation before a summer debt deadline. Mccarthy emerged saying the two had agreed to meet again
“No agreement, no promises except we will continue this conversation,” Mccarthy told reporters outside the White House.
“We both have different perspectives on this, but I thought this was a good meeting,” he said.
The House speaker arrived for the afternoon session carrying no formal GOP budget proposal, but he is laden with the promises he made to far-right and other conservative Republican lawmakers during his difficult campaign to become House speaker. He vowed then to work to return federal spending to 2022 levels — an 8 percent reduction. He also promised to take steps to balance the budget within the decade — an ambitious, if politically unattainable goal.
Mccarthy said he told the president, “I would like to see if we can come to an agreement long before the deadline.”
The political and economic stakes were high for both leaders, who have a cordial relationship, and for the nation as they worked to prevent a debt default. But it was doubtful that this first meeting since the embattled Mccarthy won the speaker’s gavel would yield quick results.
“Everyone is asking the same question of Speaker Mccarthy: Show us your plan. Where is your plan, Republicans?” said Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer ahead of the afternoon meeting.
“For days, Speaker Mccarthy has heralded this sitdown as some kind of major win in his debt ceiling talks,” Schumer said. But he added, “Speaker Mccarthy showing up at the White House without a plan is like sitting down at the table without cards in your hand.”
The nation is heading toward a fiscal showdown over raising the debt ceiling, a once-routine vote in Congress that has taken on oversized significance over the past decade as the nation’s debt toll mounts. Newly empowered in the majority, House Republicans want to force Biden and Senate Democrats into budget cuts as part of a deal to raise the limit.