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Meeting at the White House to raise the debt ceiling

2023-05-10 07:51:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Meeting at the White House to raise the debt ceiling

Illustrative photo

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday after meeting with President Joe Biden and congressional leaders that he "didn't see any new movement" toward ending a months-long impasse over raising the borrowing limit and avoiding the possible failure to pay loans.

President Biden held talks at the White House with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Minority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell.

Their initial challenge was agreeing on what to talk about as the meeting lasted just over 60 minutes.

As June 1 approaches and the government risks defaulting on its financial obligations, which would cause economic chaos, Republicans went to the White House hoping to negotiate big cuts in federal spending in exchange for raising the borrowing ceiling.

"I asked the president this simple question, does he believe there is any room where we can find savings," Mr. McCarthy told reporters outside the White House. "All I'm asking is that we spend the same amount of money we spent five months ago."

On the other hand, President Biden reinforced his opposition to allowing the country's confidence and borrowing capacity to be held "hostage" to negotiations. Mr. Biden asserted his willingness to hold budget talks only after bankruptcy is no longer a threat.

Speaking to the press before the start of the meeting, President Biden told reporters: "We're going to start, we're going to solve all the problems of the world."

Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, "The United States will not default (on debt). It has never happened and it will never happen." House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, said: "I have done everything in my power to make sure that we do not fail."

Mr McCarthy said President Biden had instructed his team to continue discussions and that the leaders would meet again on Friday.

Before the meeting at the White House, both Mr. McCarthy and White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre insisted that it was easy to avoid failure if one side dropped the demands.

The gap between opposing views is fueling uncertainty that is rocking financial markets. The meeting was scheduled to begin after the close of financial markets in the United States on Tuesday.

Mr McCarthy said on Tuesday that a deal must be reached by next week for Washington to meet the June 1 deadline. He said he sees no reason why the two sides can't quickly reach a deal on Republican proposals to cut federal spending in exchange for raising the borrowing limit.

"I don't think it's that difficult," Mr McCarthy told reporters.

But Mr. Biden and the Democrats are against it. The president insists that raising the debt limit is non-negotiable, saying spending cuts should be addressed separately as part of the annual budget process.

House Republicans recently approved a sweeping spending-cutting bill, an opening offer in negotiations. But that legislation has no chance of passing in the Democratic-controlled Senate, while the White House has threatened to veto it.

Failure to pay the bills, officials say, would destabilize global markets and send the country into an economic downturn with catastrophic consequences./ Voa