Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) will meet in person with President Joe Biden on Monday to discuss raising the debt ceiling after a “productive” phone call on Sunday.
After negotiations between Biden and McCarthy’s negotiating teams hit an impasse late last week, the two had a conversation while Biden was aboard Air Force One heading home from the G-7 Summit in Japan to talk about where the two parties currently are.
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McCarthy’s call with Biden seemingly soothed over some concerns and frustrations he and his team had about the debt ceiling negotiations. McCarthy had previously said Saturday that the White House had “moved backawards,” and earlier on Sunday, one of his negotiators, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), said he had been “pessimistic for a while” about the negotiations.
“He walked through some of the things that he’s still looking at he’s hearing from his members. I walked through things I’m looking at,” McCarthy said of the call. “What I’m looking at are, where our differences are and how could we solve those. And I felt that part was productive. But look, there’s no agreement. We’re still apart.”
The speaker said he thinks negotiations worsened late last week because of the difficulty Biden’s team likely had trying to brief him while at the G-7 meeting with other world leaders. The negotiators plan to meet on Sunday night to express where everyone is at so Biden can get a “better briefing” when he gets back from Japan, McCarthy said.
A main area of disagreement between the two is spending. McCarthy’s chief negotiator, Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA), emphasized that a red line for House Republicans is ensuring that the country spends less money next year than it did in Fiscal Year 2023.
“I want to be very clear. The numbers are foundational here,” Graves said. “The speaker has been very clear, a red line is spending less money, and unless and until we’re there, the rest of it is really irrelevant.”
The speaker also said permitting reform and work requirements for welfare services are both still part of the negotiations but expressed that immigration provisions — which some House Republicans have been pushing for in the debt ceiling bill — are not a major topic of discussion with the president.
One area of spending McCarthy does not want to cut is defense spending.
The team of negotiators will meet at 6 p.m. Sunday to continue their talks, according to a White House official. The two teams are comprised of Graves and McHenry, representing the speaker; representing Biden is Shalanda Young, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Steve Ricchetti, senior advisor to the president.
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“These discussions have been very professional all the way through,” McCarthy said. “I have great respect for the individuals on the president’s team. They’re bright. They’re articulate. They know exactly what they’re doing. We may philosophically disagree, but we have respect for one another because we’re coming from a place of principles. And when you come from a place of principles, normally, at the end of the day, you can find common ground and keep your principles at the same time.”
The country is set to default on its debt on June 1, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, giving Congress and the White House 11 days to come to an agreement and pass a bill raising the debt ceiling.
