Debt limit talks stalled as McCarthy says WH has ‘gone backwards’

Featured Sponsor

table {
width: 100%;
border-collapse: collapse;
}
th, td {
padding: 10px;
text-align: left;
border-bottom: 1px solid #006699;
}
th {
background-color: #006699;
color: #FCB900;
}
.image-container {
width: 100px;
height: auto;
}

“I don’t think we can move forward until the President can come back into the country,” McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol on Saturday. “Just from the last day to today they have taken a step backwards. They actually want to spend more money this year than we do.”

McCarthy’s comments confirmed a renewed shift in tone toward mutual blaming after the White House earlier Saturday indicated that Republicans were negotiating in bad faith. The clock is ticking as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said the US may not be able to pay all of its bills by June 1.

Biden earlier on Saturday signaled that he remained confident the US government could avoid a catastrophic default.

spending cuts

Republicans and the White House are at odds over spending cuts that Republican lawmakers are demanding as the price of raising the state borrowing limit.

“We need to spend less than we’re spending this year,” McCarthy reiterated his core demand.

MPs are stepping up their attacks on each other as talks have stalled – although there were signs of progress earlier in the week.

“I think Bernie Sanders and the Socialist wing of her party had a real impact on the President, especially because he was out of the country,” McCarthy said.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a news conference from Hiroshima, Japan on Saturday that there are “real differences between the two sides.” And Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said House Republicans were “holding the American economy hostage” and portrayed the GOP faction as committed to right-wing members.

For a deal to succeed, the cuts must be significant enough to placate conservative Republicans, who supported McCarthy’s presidency on the condition that he enact serious spending reforms without raising taxes or cutting military spending and veterans’ benefits.

But a plan must also be acceptable to Democrats, who hold a majority in the Senate and likely need between 50 and 100 votes in the House of Representatives. Few in the President’s party want domestic programs to be cut, especially without corresponding cuts in the Pentagon budget or the closing of tax loopholes used by wealthy and large corporations.

The desire to wait for Biden may stem from Republicans’ belief that the president will ultimately decide to sacrifice progressive priorities to defuse the biggest threat to the economy ahead of his re-election campaign. In fact, the President has already backed out of his promise not to negotiate a debt ceiling hike.

The battle for the debt ceiling, which could lead to the first default in the US, threatens to damage the global economy. It has overshadowed Biden’s trip abroad and the President had previously decided to cut short his trip to return to Washington for the final stages of negotiations.

Republicans’ exit from talks in Washington on Friday dashed hopes that negotiators were close to an agreement to raise the credit limit, causing stock prices to plummet.

McCarthy had hoped to reach at least agreement on a draft deal this weekend to prepare for next week’s vote in the House of Representatives on legislation.

The Senate has left Washington for its Memorial Day recess, but senators have been told to be ready to return 24 hours in advance if necessary.

Biden will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday during the G7 summit, according to a White House statement. He is scheduled to return to Washington late Sunday.

–With support from Justin Sink and Kailey Leinz.