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Talks between the White House and Speaker Kevin McCarthy on cutting spending and raising the debt limit turned serious Tuesday, with President Biden cutting short a foreign trip and agreeing to exclude Senate Democrats from the negotiating table.
Mr. Biden is set to depart for Wednesday for the Pacific, but shortened his trip so he can return to Washington earlier than planned. The president will meet with G7 leaders in Japan over the weekend as scheduled, but canceled a leg of the trip that was to take him to Australia and Papua New Guinea early next week.
Instead, administration officials announced Tuesday, the president will return to Washington on Monday after the G7 meeting wraps up. The White House said the new schedule would allow Mr. Biden time “to ensure Congress takes action” to raise the debt limit by June 1.
“The president has made clear that members of Congress from both parties and chambers must come together to prevent default, as they have 78 times before,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “The president and his team will continue to work with congressional leadership to deliver a budget agreement that can reach the president’s desk.”
Outside of truncating his foreign travel, Mr. Biden also agreed to cut other congressional leaders out of the debt-limit negotiations and deal directly with the speaker.
Mr. McCarthy, California Republican, said after a White House meeting with Mr. Biden on Tuesday that the decision was a sign of progress.
“The structure of how we negotiate has improved so it now gives you a better opportunity, even though we only have a few days to get it done,” said Mr. McCarthy. “Had we done this 97 days ago, we’d have already passed a bill.”
The decision to narrow the negotiating table came after administration officials met with top staffers for congressional leaders in recent days. While the talks have broached the topic of spending cuts, no breakthrough has emerged.
Allies of Mr. McCarthy have said that part of the obstacle in trying to forge a deal was the fact there were too many voices at the negotiating table.
