Debt limit talks seem to make little headway
Debt limit talks between the White House and House Republicans stopped, started and stopped again heading into a weekend where President Joe Biden and world leaders watched from afar, hoping highstakes negotiations would make progress on avoiding a potentially catastrophic federal default.
In a sign of a renewed bargaining session, food was brought to the negotiating room at the Capitol on Saturday morning, only to be carted away hours later. No meeting was likely Saturday, according to a person familiar with the state of the talks who was not authorized to publicly discuss the situation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Biden's administration is reaching for a deal with Republicans led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. The sides are up against a deadline as soon as June 1 to raise its borrowing limit, now at $31 trillion, so the government can keep paying the nation's bills. Republicans are demanding steep spending cuts the Democrats oppose.
Negotiations had came to an abrupt standstill Friday morning when McCarthy said it was time to “pause” talks. Then the teams convened again in the evening, only to quickly call it quits for the night.
Biden, attending a meeting of global leaders in Japan, tried to reassure them on Saturday that the United States would not default, a scenario that would rattle the world economy. He said he felt there was headway in the talks.
“The first meetings weren't all that progressive, the second ones were, the third one was,” he said. The president said he believes “we'll be able to avoid a default and we'll get something decent done.”
Negotiators for McCarthy said after the Friday evening session that they were uncertain on next steps.
“We reengaged, had a very, very candid discussion, talking about where we are, talking about where things need to be, what's reasonably acceptable,” said Rep. Garret Graves, R-La.