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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said he had a “productive discussion” with President Biden on Monday despite the fact that no agreement has been reached to raise the nation’s borrowing limit.
“I felt we had a productive discussion,” McCarthy said outside the Oval Office. “We don’t have an agreement yet, but I did feel the discussion was productive in areas that we have differences of opinion.”
McCarthy added that negotiators for both the White House and House Republicans will continue talking through the night in the hopes of hashing out an agreement before the June 1 deadline to raise the debt ceiling before a possible default.
The talks came one day after McCarthy accused Biden of suddenly pivoting to the demands of the Democrats’ “socialist wing” on the debt ceiling negotiations.
“Now, the president, even though he was overseas, thought to change places… I don’t understand that,” McCarthy told Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“The president has really shifted right after the more progressive socialist wing of the party stood up and says they want to spend more money.”
The speaker claimed that the president wanted “a default more than he wants a deal.”
On Monday, McCarthy characterized the tone of his meeting with Biden as “better” than previous discussion.
“I think the tone tonight was better than any other time we’ve had discussions,” McCarthy said of Monday’s discussion with the 80-year-old commander-in-chief.
“I felt it was productive because, look, we both know, we’ve walked through this for a long time, where our differences, we’re explaining them, we’re giving a give and take of what we think would be best for moving the country forward.
