In a lengthy meeting at the White House Tuesday, leaders struggled to break any new ground on debt ceiling negotiations with a source familiar telling CNN that leaders repeated over and over again the same positions privately that have become a common refrain in public.
Literally, no new ground was breached, the source told CNN.
It’s a reflection of the entrenched positions that have paralyzed negotiations for nearly 100 days now and a dangerous sign for what could be ahead. After making no progress, which House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and others acknowledged publicly on Tuesday night, the speaker ended his meeting with the president on Tuesday afternoon by asking him how did he want to proceed?
The implication: Was there room to keep talking? President Joe Biden told McCarthy that staff should meet over the subsequent days followed by another meeting Friday.
Leaders left the meeting echoing that plan.
One of the more telling signs following the meeting Tuesday was how personal both the jabs from the president and speaker seemed to be at one another in separate press availabilities.
Both men are experienced lawmakers who have keen understandings of the power of relationships in deal making. McCarthy found a way in his young speakership to turn some of his one-time foes into powerful allies that helped cement him a major victory on his own debt ceiling package just two weeks ago. But on Tuesday, Biden accused the speaker of – at times– being “a little over the top,” a subtle but pointed critique of McCarthy’s negotiating style. Both before and after the meeting, McCarthy brought up how he was misled by Biden for 97 days between when they first met and when Biden told him on several occasions they’d get together. They never did.
During the meeting at one point, McCarthy pushed back on what has become a common…
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