Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy accused US President Joe Biden of not wanting a debt ceiling deal, as a White House meeting involving the two leaders was postponed until next week.
Speaking to reporters at the US Capitol late Thursday evening, McCarthy said Biden and Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, had “no plans, no savings proposals and no clues” about how to avoid the looming crisis. tax.
“Apparently, President Biden doesn’t want a deal, he wants a default,” he added.
McCarthy’s combative comments came shortly after the White House confirmed that Democratic and Republican staffers would continue to work on the debt ceiling, but “all principals” — Biden, McCarthy, Schumer, the Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries — were now “in agreement.” to meet early next week” instead of Friday as planned.
One person familiar with the meetings called the change of plans a “positive development” and insisted on increasing the debt ceiling they were “progressing”.
But McCarthy was more pessimistic. He said he thought it would be “productive for the staff to meet again” but he added: “I haven’t seen since. . . the White House wanting a deal.
The speaker told reporters that all parties involved in the negotiations had agreed to postpone the meeting and noted that an unnamed key player will no longer be able to attend on Friday due to a funeral.
“I don’t think there’s enough progress for leaders to get back together,” he said.
McCarthy’s comments underlined an apparent lack of common ground between the two sides as the deadline to avoid a default approaches. Democrats have called for a “clean” bill to raise the lending limit without preconditions. Republicans insist any increase in the debt ceiling must be tied to steep spending cuts.
On Thursday, the chief executive officer of JPMorgan Jamie Dimon debt ceiling uncertainty could kick in “panic” in the markets.
Dimon was in part reacting to former President Donald Trump, who on Wednesday night on a televised town hall pleaded with Republicans to let the United States default unless Democrats capitulated to calls for “massive” spending cuts.
The debt ceiling was “another thing [Trump] he doesn’t know much about it,” Dimon said, after the former president and current favorite for the Republican party’s 2024 White House nomination worries aside on the economic consequences of an unprecedented default.
“It’s really psychological more than anything,” Trump said Wednesday night. “And it could be really bad, it could be maybe nothing, maybe it’s a bad week or a bad day, who knows?”
The head of the largest US bank told Bloomberg TV on Thursday that a default would be “catastrophic” and warned that as the government gets closer to the fiscal edge, “you will panic.”
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen he warned the government risks running out of money as early as next month if Congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling. On Thursday, ahead of the G7 finance ministers meeting in Japan, he said: ‘The idea of a default on our debt is something that would so severely undermine the US and the global economy that I think it should be regarded by all as unthinkable. “.
Separately, the IMF on Thursday warned of “very serious repercussions” in the event of a default when the global economy is in a “very difficult” position, bogged down by low growth and high inflation.
“We strongly encourage parties in the United States to come together to reach a consensus to urgently address this issue,” Julie Kozack, director of communications at the multilateral lender, told reporters.
Dimon said JPMorgan has assembled a “war room” to meet once a week to assess the risks associated with a potential default. He added that the group is likely to meet more frequently as the so-called X-date approaches.
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