5 takeaways from Biden and McCarthy’s debt ceiling talks

The top four leaders in Congress, including President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California), said Tuesday after meeting to discuss how to keep the country from defaulting, the road ahead is set. There was no.

McCarthy, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (DN.Y.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) The president’s meeting with was held just a week after Treasury Secretary Jeannette’s. Yellen told Congress the U.S. could default by June 1.

The leaders spoke for about an hour, and McCarthy then came out and said there had been no movement on the issue in the Oval Office, but the president took on a more optimistic tone.

Here are five takeaways from Tuesday’s meeting.

Biden Considers 14th Amendment

Biden confirmed in remarks made after a meeting in the Roosevelt Room that he was “considering” invoking the 14th Amendment as a way to unilaterally circumvent the debt ceiling.

The president acknowledged that it was not a viable short-term solution and noted that it would have to go through court to determine if it was feasible.

“In the meantime, without an extension, we would end up in the same place,” the president added.

This idea hinges on a provision of the 14th Amendment that states that public debt “should not be questioned.”

Yellen said using the 14th Amendment on Sunday could cause a “constitutional crisis”, while others warned it could disrupt financial markets.

McCarthy, on the other hand, objected to the idea of ​​the president using 14.^th Fix.

Biden is open to using unused COVID-19 funds

Biden has left the option to cancel unused COVID-19 relief funds in areas where he and lawmakers can agree to cut spending.

“It doesn’t require everything, but I look at it because the question is what obligations were made, what were the promises made, how much was not paid, etc.,” Biden said at a news conference. I will,” he told reporters. Separate from the discussion of debt limits, consider collection of funds.

House Republicans have passed legislation that would raise the debt ceiling and limit government funding to fiscal 2022 levels. All of these are aimed at containing spending and include provisions such as recovering unused COVID funds.

The president has challenged other Republican efforts to curtail spending already approved by his administration through inflation-cutting laws that limit health care costs and include funds to fight climate change.

McCarthy says no new moves

Emerging from the White House, McCarthy signaled that both sides had delved into their existing positions.

“Everyone at this meeting repeated their position. We didn’t see any new moves,” McCarthy said.

Biden, meanwhile, described the meeting as “productive.” Likewise, Jeffries claimed that they all agreed “there should be a real conversation going on.”

Biden and White House officials have argued that Congress should raise the debt ceiling unconditionally, pointing to decades of precedent under Democratic and Republican administrations. He has been adamant that spending cuts should be part of the debate on raising the debt ceiling.

The lack of concrete progress was particularly frustrating on Capitol Hill.

“Five of our country’s political leaders have walked out of the conference and not one of them has said they made progress?” said Senator Joe Manchin, DW.Va. “Ridiculous.”

summit friday

Biden and McCarthy said they have instructed staff members to come together for the next 48 hours to find a way forward, and the president and congressional leaders plan to reunite for another meeting on Friday. .

“One of the ways that senators and congressmen can undo some of the things they did is by giving them some leeway,” Biden said.

Jeffries explained his optimism about next Friday’s meeting as a reason. said they would meet to continue the discussion.

Biden and McCarthy haven’t met since February 1 to discuss the debt ceiling. The Speaker of the House bashed the president for not inviting him to meet soon after Tuesday’s meeting, but the president claimed he did so to avoid defaulting after the House passed the bill. bottom.

McCarthy also said staff-level discussions had taken place prior to Tuesday’s meeting, and asked Biden to do so, but did not make it public.

lawmakers don’t want to default

Biden cited progress when he said everyone agreed to allow defaults to occur off the table and understood the risks if the June 1 deadline passed.

“Certainly there has been considerable movement in the sense that everyone agreed that default was out of the question,” the president said.

But he also noted that the agreement was among the three leaders in attendance, not including McCarthy.

McConnell’s main point after the meeting was that the United States “will not default”, but he said a solution must ultimately be agreed upon by Biden and McCarthy. Additionally, Schumer later told reporters that Democrats who were with him asked the speaker to “take the defaults off the table.”

Still, the day ended with both sides largely blaming the other for the continued stalemate in negotiations.

Mychael Schnell and Emily Brooks contributed to this report.