McCarthy says no progress in debt ceiling talks with Biden: ‘I didn't see any new movement’
Politics,Debt Ceiling,Joe Biden,Kevin McCarthy,Hakeem Jeffries,Chuck Schumer,Federal Spending
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday he saw no new movement from President Joe Biden during a White House meeting on how to raise the government's borrowing limit, just weeks before the federal government is set to run out of cash to pay its bills by June 1.
"Everybody in this meeting reiterated the positions they were at. I didn't see any new movement," the speaker said. He said nothing has changed for Biden since they met on the same issue on Feb. 1.
McCarthy, R-Calif., said the next steps on the issue is for staff-level meetings to take place over the rest of the week and then to hold another meeting between Biden, McCarthy and other congressional leaders on Friday.
McCarthy defended the GOP position of insisting on spending cuts as a condition of raising the debt ceiling by pointing out that the House passed a debt limit bill, the Limit, Save, Grow Act, that accomplishes both while Senate Democrats have done nothing. Democrats have panned the House bill as a non-starter and want a clean debt ceiling increase.
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