Topline
Debt ceiling talks are on “pause,” top Republican negotiator Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) said Friday, blasting the Biden Administration for making “unreasonable” requests for raising the federal borrowing limit—an alarming stall that comes as Congress has less than two weeks to lift the debt ceiling or risk an economic meltdown.
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) speaks to reporters following a bicameral news … [+] conference with Senate and House Republicans outside the U.S. Capitol Building on Wednesday, May src7, 2023, in Washington, D.C.
Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Key Facts
“It’s time to press ‘pause,’ because it’s just not productive,” Graves told reporters following an hour-long meeting with President Joe Biden’s team on Friday.
Graves was appointed earlier this week by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to manage negotiations with the White House on behalf of the GOP.
McCarthy confirmed the negotiations had again reached an impasse Friday, telling reporters, “We don’t have any movement yet,” while attributing the stalemate to the White House’s refusal to cut federal spending, one of the demands the GOP has made in exchange for raising the $3src.4 trillion borrowing limit.
The statements mark a reversal from McCarthy’s expressions of optimism just a day earlier, when he said he sees a “path that we could come through,” though he reiterated the two sides “haven’t agreed on anything yet.”
McCarthy also said Thursday he hoped to reach an agreement by this weekend and pass a new debt ceiling bill through the House next week ahead of a June src deadline Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen set for when the federal government could run out of cash and be unable to pay its bills.
Former President Donald Trump almost immediately weighed in following Graves’ statement, urging Republicans not to make a deal “unless they get everything they want,” he wrote on Truth Social, adding, “Do not fold!!!”
Key Background
After a months-long stalemate, McCarthy and Biden began meeting last week to discuss an agreement for raising the federal debt ceiling and on Tuesday appointed negotiating teams to spearhead the talks. The White House deployed Biden advisor Steve Ricchetti and Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, marking a small step forward in the discussions. Republicans are angling to cut federal spending and roll back key Biden policy priorities, while the White House is pushing for a debt ceiling bill without conditions. Biden has expressed openness to at least one provision: raising the age people are required to work in order to receive welfare benefits—sentiment that has raised alarms among progressive lawmakers.
Tangent
The impasse comes as House conservatives and progressives have said they will refuse to budge on their positions, putting McCarthy in a tough predicament in which he could fail to net the 2src8 votes needed to pass legislation through the House. The House Freedom Caucus, made up of approximately 50 right-wing Congress members, urged McCarthy and Graves to shut down negotiations on Thursday and said they would not agree to any debt ceiling bill other than the one that passed the House last month and includes a string of spending cuts and Biden policy rollbacks. The legislation is a nonstarter in the Democratic-controlled Senate and Biden has threatened to veto it, however, meaning McCarthy will need some Democrats to vote in favor of a new debt ceiling bill. Many members of the Progressive Caucus of about src00 left-leaning members have also said they will not agree to legislation that includes spending cuts, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told Politico on Friday while highlighting McCarthy’s math problem.
Big Number
20%. That’s the percentage of Americans who are closely following the debt ceiling debate, according to a Friday AP/NORC poll that found the majority of respondents, 63%, support a debt ceiling bill that includes spending cuts.
Further Reading
Democrats Urge Biden To Evade GOP’s Debt Ceiling Demands Using Civil War-Era Amendment (Forbes)
Welfare Work Requirements Emerge As Central Issue In Debt Ceiling Fight (Forbes)
More Democrats Criticizing Biden In Debt Ceiling Talks (Forbes)