House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday that a deal needs to be reached by next week on the debt ceiling in order to ensure Congress has time to pass it into law.
“I think we need it by next week, especially with the time basis,” the speaker told reporters.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress last week that the U.S. could run out of money to pay its debts and obligations as soon as June 1. A deal by next week would give Congress about two weeks to finalize the deal and send it to President Joe Biden.
“I think we should just get in the room and solve this thing. I don’t think it’s that difficult,” McCarthy said ahead of today’s meeting.
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It’s not clear how much could come out of McCarthy’s sit-down with Biden and the other House and Senate leaders. Republicans and Democrats are gridlocked over how to proceed to raise the debt ceiling. The GOP-majority House passed a bill last week aimed at lifting the debt limit while capping next year’s spending at fiscal 2022 levels.
That bill has managed to unify the Senate GOP minority – lawmakers from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to conservative Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, have coalesced behind McCarthy and made clear the negotiation belongs between the speaker and the president.
McConnell said on the Senate floor Tuesday, “Any compromise fleshed out by the Republican House and the Democratic White House will pass the Senate easily. So, President Biden’s actions will either prevent default or guarantee default.”
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Democrats, however, are refusing to pair spending-cut talks with taking action on the debt limit. Both the White House and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have dubbed Republicans’ bill the “Default on America Act” and claim that it would cut funding to seniors, veterans and other vulnerable groups.
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“We’re going to stay focused on what Congress needs to do here, their congressional duty, which is to prevent a default,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during her briefing on Tuesday when asked about the upcoming meeting.
“If House Republicans get their way, it could also … trigger a recession. And we’ve listed over and over again what this could be, if they continue to hold the American economy hostage. That’s going to be our focus. That’s going to be the president’s focus today, to make that clear to the leaders … that they have to do their congressional duty. And that’s what’s expected.”
