2023-05-20 08:30:02
WASHINGTON (AP) — Debt limit talks between the White House and House Republicans stopped, started, and stopped again on Capitol Hill on Friday in a dizzying succession of events during negotiations to avoid a default. of potentially catastrophic federal debt.
The administration of President Joe Biden is trying to reach a deal with Republicans, led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, as the country nears a June 1 deadline to raise the debt limit, which is now of 31 trillion dollars, to continue paying the bills. Republicans are calling for major spending cuts, something Democrats oppose.
Negotiations came to an abrupt halt in the early hours when McCarthy said it was time to “pause” the talks. But the negotiating teams met again in the afternoon before ending the day at night.
Biden, who is in Japan to attend the G7 summit, remains optimistic about a possible deal, noting that negotiations are taking place “in stages.”
“I still believe that we will be able to avoid default and get something done,” he said.
His press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, had previously acknowledged the complexity of the negotiations.
“There is no doubt that we have serious differences,” he said without explaining them.
Senior negotiators from McCarthy’s team said after the afternoon session that they were unclear on the next steps, although talks were likely to resume over the weekend. The White House publicly expressed optimism that a solution could be reached if both sides negotiate “in good faith.”
“We got back into dialogue, we had a very, very candid discussion, talking about where we are, what we have to do and what is reasonably acceptable,” said Rep. Garret Graves, R-Louisiana, a prominent McCarthy ally who leads his negotiating team. .
As the White House delegation left the night session, presidential adviser Steve Ricchetti, who heads the group of Democrats, was hopeful and stated that “we are going to continue working.”
Biden had already planned to cut his trip to Japan short and is expected to return to Washington on Sunday night.
Earlier in the day, McCarthy claimed that the lockout solution is “easy,” if Biden’s team agrees to some spending cuts that Republicans are demanding. The main hurdle revolved around the budget for fiscal year 2024, according to a person familiar with the discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity. Democrats radically oppose the deep cuts proposed by the Republicans as potentially harmful to Americans and insist that the Republicans accept tax increases for the richest and spending cuts to reduce the deficit.
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