Global Courant 2023-05-23 05:56:36
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy left a White House meeting with President Joe Biden on Monday, saying he was optimistic about progress toward a deal on the country’s debt ceiling — but “philosophical disagreements” with Democrats remained, while the clock continues to tick towards an unprecedented standard.
“I think the tone tonight was better than it’s ever been,” said McCarthy. “We’ll still have some philosophical disagreements, but I felt it was productive that way.”
“We don’t have an agreement yet, but I found the discussion productive in areas where we have differences,” he said.
Negotiators for the president and speaker will continue to work on a deal, McCarthy said, and he expects to speak with Biden daily.
He said he had not scheduled additional face-to-face meetings with the president.
“We’ve had tough meetings, we’ve had tough meetings. This meeting was productive,” said North Carolina Representative Patrick McHenry, one of the Republican negotiators.
But neither McCarthy nor McHenry wanted to shed much light on where they’d made progress, what issues they’d worked on, or what sticking points still needed to be addressed — with only broad descriptions of the honesty and professionalism in the room.
Until now, there have been major disagreements over the scope of any cuts or freezes and the possibility of new taxes in a debt deal.
After speaking with Biden, McCarthy again threw cold water at the idea of a short-term extension of the federal government’s $31.4 trillion borrowing limit, saying he didn’t think it would “benefit anyone.”
At a press conference after seeing the president, McCarthy said, “We literally talked about where we had differences and ideas. So to me that’s productive. Not progress, but productive.”
The speaker told ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott that he sees a path to eventually agreeing on a possible “framework,” but added, “You just have to have people willing to get to that point .”
GOP requests include the return of unused COVID-19 relief funds, major cuts in government spending, job requirements for some federal aid recipients, and changes to permits for new energy projects.
Biden initially demanded a “clean” debt ceiling increase with no preconditions, as has happened several times in the past. But he’s since turned himself around and shown some openness to the GOP’s position, pushing back the size of any budget cuts and pushing for new government revenues.
McCarthy and other Republicans have repeatedly ruled out taxes as part of a deal. McCarthy also opposes defense spending cuts and any changes to immigration policy.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., speaks to reporters about debt limit negotiations upon his arrival at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, May 22, 2023.
J. Scott Appelwit/AP
He told reporters earlier Monday that they would need a deal by “this week” to ensure that the House and Senate before the June 1 “X-date” when Treasury Secretary Jane Yellen has said the U.S. could default and be unable to pay all of its bills — likely upending domestic and international markets.
In a short statement Monday night, Biden reiterated McCarthy’s assessment of their sit-down.
“I just concluded a productive meeting with Speaker McCarthy about the need to avoid default and catastrophe for our economy,” he said. “We reiterated that default is off the table and the only way forward is in good faith towards an agreement between both parties.”
Ahead of their meeting at the White House, Biden had said that “we’re optimistic that maybe we can make some progress because we both agree that default isn’t really on the table. We need to get something done here.”
McCarthy also agreed.
“We both agree that we need to change course — that our debt is too great,” McCarthy told reporters in the Oval Office. “I think at the end of the day we can find common ground, make our economy stronger, take care of this debt, but more importantly, get this government moving again to (curb) inflation .”
That tone of cooperation is at odds with comments elsewhere, as Republicans have accused the Biden administration of slowing talks to avoid pushing back the administration, while Democrats said the GOP essentially held the entire economy hostage to to enforce extreme views instead of the debt ceiling with no strings attached.
Speaking to reporters on the steps of the Capitol on Monday night, House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries tried to portray Republicans as having made no serious concessions in the debt ceiling negotiations thus far.
“The president himself remained extremely reasonable despite the unreasonable demands that the extreme MAGA Republicans continue to make,” Jeffries said.
Yellen had warned on Sunday that June 1 is a “hard deadline” for raising the debt limit, and that the possibility of reaching mid-June without default is “quite slim”.
On the timeline for passing legislation, McCarthy said Monday before going to the White House that “we’re going to need a few days to write it and make sure everyone can read it.”
He pointed to a concession he made to become speaker, going back to an earlier rule requiring House members to be given 72 hours to review legislation before voting on it.
The short timeline makes it “more difficult,” he said, but added, “I think this will make it all happen.”
Split view of President Joe Biden speaking to reporters in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, May 9, 2023, and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy speaking at a press conference on Capitol Hill following a White House meeting with President Biden on the debt ceiling, May 16, 2023, in Washington.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters and Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Another looming concern as negotiations continue is whether, if a deal is reached, McCarthy will have the votes to pass it in the House.
When asked Monday whether he can count on far-right Republicans in the House to vote for a debt ceiling deal or whether he needs Democratic support, McCarthy objected.
“I think any time you come to an agreement that you negotiate with the president, both the Democrats and the Republicans will vote for it,” he said.
The House Freedom Caucus, which includes dozens of Republican hardliners, has called for talks with the Biden administration to stop and instead focus on getting the Senate to pass the Limit, Save, Grow Act — a bill that would cut spending significantly in exchange for a one-year increase in the debt limit that Democrats consider a non-starter.
Their opposition means McCarthy may need a significant number of Democratic votes to pass a debt limit deal. Several progressives have warned of backlash if Biden concedes too much ground to the Republicans, calling for him to use the 14th Amendment to act unilaterally on the issue.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., talks to reporters about debt limit negotiations outside his office at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, May 22, 2023.
J. Scott Appelwit/AP
Before meeting Biden, McCarthy continued to criticize Democrats’ spending as he entered the Capitol, refusing to say whether there had been any movement with the White House.
“The underlying problem here is that the Democrats, since they took the majority, are addicted to spending and that’s going to stop. We’re going to spend less than we did last year,” McCarthy said.
He also took the opportunity to beat Biden.
“Managing a crisis by the last deadline is the worst way to handle this. That’s why the Republicans took action,” he said.
Biden and McCarthy spoke earlier on Sunday after negotiations stalled over the weekend, mainly over the issue of spending and the duration of budget caps.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will stop to talk to reporters about debt limit negotiations when he arrives at the Capitol in Washington on May 22, 2023.
J. Scott Appelwit/AP
In the Oval Office later Monday, Biden was asked if the way to break the deadlock was through “general spending caps.”
“Not only, not only that,” he replied.
ABC News’ Rachel Scott has reported that Republicans have turned down an offer from the White House to cut military and domestic spending, including funds for housing, education and scientific research.
Biden’s call to include tax increases in a deal to raise the debt ceiling — “so people start paying their fair share,” he said Sunday — has been rejected by the GOP.
Rep. Jodey Arrington, chairman of the House Budget Committee, told ABC’s “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz on Sunday that revenue increases “were not up for discussion.”
Alexandra Hutzler of ABC News contributed to this report.
