Biden, McCarthy set to resume U.S. debt ceiling talks Monday
President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy were set to meet Monday to resume talks to avoid a devastating default on U.S. debt.
They spoke over the phone Sunday as the president was flying back from the Group of Seven summit in Japan after negotiations last week failed to yield a breakthrough.
Teams from both sides were set to begin meeting Sunday night, according to McCarthy.
“My discussion with the president, I think, was productive,” the California Republican told reporters.
“Look, he’s sitting on Air Force One, he had been sitting in meetings with other world leaders, and it’s hard to try to get that update as we’re going across there,” he was quoted as saying by NPR.
“I think we can solve some of these problems if he understands what we’re looking at, but I’ve been very clear to him from the very beginning — we have to spend less money than we spent last year.”
After the G-7 summit ended Sunday, Biden put blame for the impasse on GOP lawmakers, who have insisted on big spending cuts in exchange for authorizing the federal government to take on more debt.
He canceled plans to visit other countries in the region so he could come back to Washington as the feds are on track to run out of cash in early June.
“It’s time for the other side to move off extreme positions because much of what they’ve already proposed is simply, quite frankly, unacceptable” the president said.
Last month, the House passed legislation to raise the debt ceiling. It also moved to freeze spending at 2022 levels for a decade, coming to a spending cut of more than 10% for the federal government.
Biden, who’s insisted on raising the debt ceiling with no strings attached, said, “It’s time for Republicans to accept that there is no deal to be made solely on their partisan terms.”
With News Wire Services
