President Joe Biden is set to meet with congressional leadership on Tuesday amid a stalemate in Washington to raise the debt ceiling and avoid a default that would have catastrophic economic consequences.
A path forward to raising the debt ceiling remains unclear. House Republicans want to attach spending reductions to a debt ceiling increase and have passed a debt limit plan that does just that. But Biden and congressional Democrats are insisting on passing a clean increase on the debt limit before addressing a framework for spending.
During Tuesday’s meeting in the Oval Office at 4 p.m. ET – the first in-person, top-level discussions to take place at the White House in months – the president will be joined by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Biden has not formally held a meeting with McCarthy since February, when the two last discussed the debt ceiling at the White House.
It remains to be seen whether the parties involved will agree to establishing a process for earnest negotiations.
McConnell – known as a Senate deal maker with stronger ties to Biden than McCarthy – has signaled that he won’t come to rescue Democrats in negotiations, telling the president privately that it was up to him and McCarthy to come to an agreement, according to Bloomberg. McConnell told the news outlet on Monday, “The White House and the speaker’s teams need to sit down now and settle it.”
In the Senate, all but six Senate Republicans have vowed to oppose raising the debt ceiling “without substantive spending and budget reforms,” backing McCarthy’s position.
Meanwhile, the White House continues to maintain that Biden will not change course in his belief that Congress must do its job by raising the debt limit without…
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