US debt ceiling talks set to resume after hiatus

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Republican lawmakers would resume federal debt ceiling talks with the White House late Friday, House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy said, hours after his designated negotiators pulled out of the talks.

“We’ll be back in the bedroom tonight,” McCarthy said in an interview with Fox Business. Another person familiar with the talks also confirmed that they would resume.

The resumption of talks will be seen as a signal that both sides are moving towards an agreement. Without an agreement to increase the borrowing limit, officials have warned of a government default after June 1.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier in the day, Garret Graves, the Republican congressman from Louisiana who became McCarthy’s spokesman, left a meeting room on Capitol Hill where talks were taking place, telling reporters that negotiators would “press break”.

“Until people are ready to have reasonable conversations about how you can actually move forward and do the right thing, then we’re not going to sit here and talk to each other,” Graves said.

The White House said earlier: “There are real differences between the parties on budget issues and the talks will be difficult. THE Of the president The team is working hard to find a reasonable bipartisan solution.

Graves’ harsh words came just a day after McCarthy suggested a deal to raise the debt ceiling could be voted on in the House next week. Any debt ceiling deal would need to be passed by the House, which is controlled by Republicans, and the Senate, which is held by Democrats, before being signed into law by President Joe Biden.

Lawmakers have been scrambling to strike a deal before June 1, which has been identified by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen as the so-called x-date when the government risks running out of cash and defaulting on its obligations.

“We are not there, we have not agreed anything yet. But I see the way we can come to an agreement,” McCarthy told reporters Thursday on Capitol Hill.

But members of McCarthy’s own party poured cold water on his optimism later Thursday, when they suggested they would not support any deal reached with the White House.

The Freedom Caucus of right-wing lawmakers issued a statement saying they were only prepared to support a Republican bill recently passed by the House that ties raising the debt ceiling to deep spending cuts, which which is not the case for the Democrats.

“There should be no further discussion until the Senate passes the legislation,” he said.

The Freedom Caucus statement underscored the difficult political balancing act for McCarthy as he seeks to keep his often-hectic conference while brokering a deal that will satisfy Biden and congressional Democrats.

Biden is also walking a political tightrope as he seeks to strike a deal without alienating his party’s most progressive members, who have bristled at the suggestion the president could sign off on Republican demands, including job demands. more stringent for people claiming social benefits.

Biden traveled to Japan for the G7 meetings on Wednesday but is cutting his trip short and will return to Washington on Sunday in light of the debt ceiling impasse.