SIGNS OF HOPE ON DEBT CEILING DEAL
McCarthy indicates agreement could come by end of week
President Joe Biden and congressional leaders in both parties emerged from a White House meeting on Tuesday offering glimmers of hope about eventually reaching a deal to raise the nation’s borrowing limit, even as they conceded they were still far from averting a default that could come as soon as June 1.
With time dwindling to strike a compromise that could make it through Congress in time to avoid an economic catastrophe, Biden said he would cut short a diplomatic trip to Asia to be on hand for a potential breakthrough. Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said it was possible that such a deal could materialize within days now that the president had agreed to dispatch his top advisers for stepped-up negotiations.
“We just finished another good, productive meeting with our congressional leadership about a path forward to make sure that America does not default on its debt,” Biden said after the hourlong session in the Oval Office.
McCarthy told reporters that he could see a deal reached “by the end of the week” — a marked change in tone after he had lamented the state of the talks just hours earlier. He exulted in a news release after the meeting that “negotiations are happening.”
Still, he acknowledged
that talks about spending cuts remained far apart and made it clear that the two sides had yet to agree on any policy proposals.
Republicans and Democrats had both signaled that they saw the session on Tuesday as a make-orbreak moment — much more significant than a similar gathering at the White House a week ago and more urgent with just 16 days before the country is projected to default on its debt.
The meeting also appeared
to wipe away any pretense by Democrats that they would accept only a “clean” debt limit increase without conditions from House Republicans. For weeks, Biden has maintained that negotiating over cuts must not be a condition for raising the limit and avoiding what could be a catastrophic default.
But on Tuesday, both Democratic leaders from New York, Sen. Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, and Rep. Hakeem
Jeffries, the minority leader, told reporters at the White House that passing a bipartisan bill in both chambers was the only way forward.
“Hakeem and I are committed to getting that bipartisan bill done,” Schumer said. “We will not sacrifice our values,” he added. “They’ll probably not sacrifice their values. But we’ll have to come together on something that can avoid default. Default is a disaster.”
The meeting came a day
after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reiterated that the United States could run out of money to pay its bills by June 1 if Congress does not raise or suspend the debt limit, the statutory cap on how much the government can borrow to finance its obligations. Economists say that could eliminate jobs and cause a recession.
The government reached the $31.4 trillion debt limit on Jan. 19, and the Treasury Department has been using a series of accounting maneuvers to keep paying its bills.
Yellen warned on Tuesday that the United States faced “an economic and financial catastrophe” if it defaulted and said the standoff over the debt limit was already affecting financial markets and households.
“We are already seeing the impacts of brinkmanship,” Yellen said in remarks at the Independent Community Bankers of America summit meeting.
As Tuesday’s meeting started, Biden joked to reporters that “we’re having a wonderful time — everything’s going well.”
But the session concluded without a breakthrough, even as broad areas of negotiation have emerged in recent days, including fixed caps on federal spending, reclaiming unspent funds designated for the COVID-19 emergency, stiffer work requirements for federal benefits and expedited permitting rules for energy projects.
McCarthy commended Biden for designating two officials to negotiate directly with his office and with Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana, one of McCarthy’s top lieutenants. Biden picked his senior adviser, Steve Ricchetti, and Shalanda Young, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, according to people familiar with his choices.
“The structure of how we negotiate has improved,” McCarthy said. “It now gives you a better opportunity, even though we only have a few days to get it done.”