Negotiators from the White House met over the debt limit with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s emissaries at the Capitol
Negotiators from the White House labored Thursday over the U.S. debt limit with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s emissaries at the Capitol, grinding through a second day of head-to-head talks trying to strike a budget deal to avert a looming economic crisis.
With hopes for a breakthrough as soon as this weekend, President Joe Biden and McCarthy tapped their top representatives to work out a deal after talks with a larger contingent stalled out. Brown bags of lunchtime snacks were delivered to the stately room signaling the slog ahead.
Upbeat, McCarthy said it was important to have an “agreement in principle” by this weekend if they hope to get to a House vote next week. That would leave enough time for the Senate to act, too, ahead of a deadline as soon as June 1.
“Everyone’s working hard.” McCarthy told CNN and others at the Capitol.
The White House team also appeared upbeat as they entered the building, but declined comments. They departed two hours later, and it was unclear if talks would resume late in the day.
“This does not have to be a crisis,” Vice President Kamala Harris said during a virtual meeting of community leaders on Thursday.
“A default could trigger a recession, stop military paychecks and raise interest rates for years to come,” Harris said. “America must pay our bills, just like you and your family and other hardworking Americans do every single day.”
All sides are racing devise a budget-cutting deal that Democrats and Republicans can live with, the price to be paid as McCarthy’s newly empowered House Republicans try to extract steep spending reductions. Those cuts would be in exchange for GOP votes to raise the debt limit, which is now $31 trillion, and keep paying the nation’s already-due bills.
Biden and McCarthy have mostly cooled what had been heated rhetoric over the Republican demands. The president said he would be checking on talks as he is abroad for the next several days at the Group of Seven summit in Japan. Biden cut short the rest of his trip to Papua New Guinea and Australia so he could return early to Washington.
“I’m confident that we’ll get the agreement on the budget and America will not default,” Biden said Wednesday before he departed.
Behind closed doors are the key personnel who could cut a sweeping budget deal. Steve Ricchetti, Biden’s longtime aide who is now counselor to the president, along with Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young and legislative affairs director Louisa Terrell are representing the administration.
