WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy could not reach an agreement on Monday (May 22) on how to raise the US government’s US$31.4 trillion debt ceiling with just 10 days before a possible default that could sink the US economy, but vowed to keep talking.
The Democratic president and the top congressional Republican have struggled to make progress on a deal, as McCarthy pressures the White House to agree to spending cuts in the federal budget that Biden considers “extreme”, and the president pushes new taxes on the wealthy that Republicans reject.
“We reiterated once again that default is off the table and the only way to move forward is in good faith toward a bipartisan agreement,” Biden said in a statement after the meeting, which he called “productive”.
McCarthy told reporters after over an hour of talks with Biden that negotiators are “going to get together, work through the night” to try to find common ground.
“I felt we had a productive discussion. We don’t have an agreement yet,” McCarthy said. “I believe we can still get there.”
He said he expected to talk to Biden every day. But he was not willing to consider Biden’s plan to cut the deficit by raising taxes on the wealthy and closing tax loopholes for the oil and pharmaceutical industries. McCarthy was focused on reducing spending in the 2024 federal budget.
“I felt we had a productive discussion. We don’t have an agreement yet,” McCarthy told reporters after an hour of talks with Biden in the Oval Office. He said their staffs would continue talks and added, “I believe we can still get there”.
Democrats and Republicans have just 10 days to reach a deal – until Jun 1 – to increase the government’s self-borrowing limit or trigger an unprecedented debt default that economists warn could bring on a recession.
Biden said before the meeting started that he was “optimistic” they could make some progress. Both sides need a bipartisan agreement to “sell it” to their constituencies, he said, adding there may still be some disagreements.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday offered a sobering reminder of how little time is left, saying the earliest estimated default date remains June 1 and that it is “highly likely” that Treasury will no longer be able to pay all government obligations by early June if the debt ceiling is not raised.
Republican Representative Patrick McHenry, who was in the White House meeting, ruled out any partial budget agreement to raise the debt ceiling. “No one’s going to agree to anything until we have a finalized deal,” he said.
He said the tone in the Biden meeting was the most positive yet.
Any deal to raise the limit must pass both chambers of Congress, and therefore hinges on bipartisan support. McCarthy’s Republicans control the House 222-213, while Biden’s Democrats hold the Senate 51-49.
A failure to lift the debt ceiling would trigger a default that would shake financial markets and drive interest rates higher on everything from car payments to credit cards.
US markets rose on Monday as investors awaited updates on the negotiations.
It will take several days to move legislation through Congress if and when Biden and McCarthy come to an agreement. McCarthy said that a deal must be reached this week for it to pass Congress and be signed into law by Biden in time to avoid default.
A White House official on Monday said that Republican negotiators had last week proposed additional cuts to programs providing food aid to low-income Americans, and emphasised no deal could pass Congress without support from both parties.
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