Biden and McCarthy also spoke by phone on Sunday when the president returned home from the G7 summit in Japan.
Washington:
A top US Republican said Monday that his first face-to-face talks with President Joe Biden in months to prevent a catastrophic debt default were “productive” but there was still no deal.
The White House meeting came after Biden returned early from a trip to Asia to strike a deal before the US Treasury’s June 1 cut-off date for Congress to authorize more borrowing.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said after the talks, “I thought we had a productive discussion. We don’t have an agreement yet, but I thought the discussion was productive in areas (where) we have differences.”
McCarthy told reporters that negotiators were going to “work overnight” to move the sides closer and that he and Biden would “talk every day to try to find a way to get it done.”
Debt limits are raised from time to time to cover repayments on loans already approved and spent, but House Republicans this time are pushing for a default to reduce the nation’s $31.8 trillion debt. To reduce should be combined with deep cuts.
As they sat down for the meeting, Biden said “I’m optimistic we’re going to make some progress,” adding that both sides understood they had a “significant responsibility” to resolve the impasse.
– ‘Red line’ –
Again, on-and-off discussions were sprinkled over the weekend, with McCarthy’s team and White House negotiators covering more than two hours on Sunday night and another three on Monday.
Biden and McCarthy also spoke by phone on Sunday when the president returned home from the G7 summit in Japan.
Republicans insist on spending less money in fiscal year 2024 than in 2023, calling it the “red line”.
The White House has offered a freeze for 2024 in exchange for Republicans supporting tax increases for corporations and wealthy Americans, but McCarthy has rejected the idea.
The Biden administration has proposed limiting spending on some domestic programs, but wants the Pentagon to share in the cuts.
Republicans have pushed for increased military and border security spending, with a major cut back in non-defense programs.
Controversy also persists over what a White House official has called for an increasingly hard line of Republicans calling for tougher requirements for social welfare programs.
Biden points out that the Republican raised the borrowing limit three times under his predecessor, Donald Trump, without threatening default on the country’s debt obligations.
If MPs fail to raise the borrowing limit, the government will default for the first time in history, with potentially disastrous consequences.
Many experts say that in a worst-case scenario, global stock markets will crash as the US economy spirals into a downward spiral, resulting in the loss of millions of jobs.
– June 1 deadline –
The president is being pressured by progressives in his party to rely on the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution – which states that the legality of the public debt “shall not be called into question” – to bypass Congress and raise the limit on his own For.
But he and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen cautioned that courts would not be able to resolve any legal disputes quickly enough to meet the deadline.
Yellen sent a letter to Congress on Monday warning again that the United States may be unable to pay its bills as soon as June 1.
Even if McCarthy and Biden can strike a comprehensive deal, whatever they agree to will need to be shepherded through the House of Representatives, where they face pressure from hardliners on both sides that They should not give too many concessions.
Further complicating the timeline, the Senate is out this week, while the House is expected to recess on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)