Biden to continue US debt ceiling talks as McCarthy warns time is ‘very short’
Joe Biden will continue to hold talks with congressional leaders on raising the US debt limit later this week and will meet them again after the G7 summit in Japan, his press secretary said on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the US president postponed plans to visit Papua New Guinea and Australia after the Japan summit, cutting short his Asia trip so he can return to Washington.
The same day, Biden and the Republican House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, met for an hour at the White House, a meeting the president said was productive.
Republicans want Biden to agree spending cuts in return for a bill to raise the US borrowing limit.
Democrats say Republicans should agree to a “clean” debt limit bill, the sort they repeatedly passed under Donald Trump, citing potentially catastrophic economic impacts should the US default.
The US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, has indicated that without agreement, default could come as early as 1 June.
A failure to honour debts could have catastrophic impacts on the US and world economies.
On Wednesday morning, Karine Jean-Pierre told MSNBC: “The president is looking forward to having conversations with the congressional leaders on the phone and meeting with them again when he comes back from overseas.”
Multiple news outlets reported that Biden had agreed to a key demand from McCarthy: that negotiations be carried out by a small group of aides – removing, for now, Democratic leaders in the House and Senate.
On Wednesday, McCarthy told CNBC: “The challenge here is the president waited 104 days until he came to this conclusion. The timeline is very short.”
Politico said Biden was now represented by the White House counselor Steve Richetti, budget director Shalanda Young and legislative affairs director Louisa
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