Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) sought to assure financial markets that the United States would not default on its obligations after the speaker met with President Joe Biden to discuss the debt ceiling.
McCarthy said he left the Wednesday sit-down “with a better perspective than I had walking into the meeting” but reiterated that a clean debt limit increase was off the table.
MCCARTHY ENTERS THE LION’S DEN WITH HIS GAVEL AND BIDEN’S REELECTION ON THE LINE
“I would feel better if I was the markets based upon the meeting I had today,” he told reporters upon returning to the Capitol.
The speaker held a press gaggle minutes earlier outside the White House in which he voiced confidence that the two leaders would be able to find “common ground.”
McCarthy agreed to extract spending cuts from Democrats in exchange for a debt limit increase as part of a deal he inked with hard-line members of his conference. The deal, which secured McCarthy the speakership, set up a fight with the White House, which has insisted on raising the ceiling “without conditions.”
McCarthy declined to elaborate on the potential spending cuts discussed in the Oval Office but said a “lot of different ideas” were raised. One proposal would roll back next year’s federal spending to fiscal 2022 levels.
If Washington cannot break the impasse by early June, the United States could default on its debts for the first time in the country’s history.
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“I know you all have a job to do, but I don’t think we’ll come to an agreement by negotiating with you,” he said.
The White House called the meeting, which lasted more than an hour, a “frank and straightforward dialogue” and said Biden agreed to “continue the conversation” with McCarthy.
“I didn’t commit — we didn’t commit to anything. What we did, we sat down for a first discussion, and I think the first discussion went well enough that we said we wanted to continue it,” McCarthy added at the Capitol.
