Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., addresses the media after a meeting with with President Joe Biden on the debt ceiling at the White House on Tuesday, May 16, 2023.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Monday that “decisions have to be made” at his meeting with President Joe Biden later in the day at the White House, with only 10 days to go until the U.S. risks default.
“We’ve got to have movement” in order to have progress toward a deal to raise the debt ceiling, McCarthy told reporters in the Capitol. “I know where I think people should be able to get to.”
McCarthy spoke following three hours of negotiations between White House and House Republican envoys over how to reach an agreement to raise the debt limit.
Biden and McCarthy’s meeting comes after a dramatic weekend during which talks broke down Friday over an impasse on government spending levels, but resumed several hours later.
The two leaders spoke by phone Sunday evening, a conversation they described as “productive.” It could set the stage for movement toward a deal this week. Biden and McCarthy are set to meet at 5:30 p.m. ET on Monday in the Oval Office.
On Monday, one of the GOP negotiators, Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., said he was “concerned about getting a deal that can pass the House, the Senate, and signed by the president.”
“It’s a complicated piece of math, it is,” McHenry told CNN.
“We’re at a very sensitive point here, and the goal is to get something that can be legislated into law,” he added.
McHenry was joined in the talks by Rep. Garret Graves, R-La. The White House team is comprised of presidential counselor Steve Ricchetti, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young and legislative affairs director Louisa Terrell.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reaffirmed on Sunday that June 1 is the government’s “hard deadline” to raise the debt limit or face a likely first ever national debt default.
“We expect to be…
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