House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said debt-limit discussions Monday morning with White House negotiators were productive ahead of a planned meeting later in the day with President Joe Biden.
“We’re going to continue working. We’re not at a deal,” McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol Monday afternoon.
Biden and McCarthy are set to meet at 5:30 pm at the White House for face-to-face talks, with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warning the US Treasury may not be able to make all payments as soon as June 1.
With time growing short, McCarthy said, “Decisions have to start being made.”
White House negotiators met with Republican representatives Monday morning for about two and a half hours at the US Capitol.
Negotiations have whipsawed between progress and deadlock for days as the two sides simultaneously grapple for political advantage and a deal.
White House officials and House Republicans disagree on the level and length of caps on discretionary spending, the terms of a faster permitting process for energy projects and whether to include expanded work requirements for beneficiaries of Medicaid, food stamps, and cash assistance programs.
Earlier Monday, House Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry, a negotiator for McCarthy, struck an optimistic tone, telling reporters that a call Sunday between Biden and the GOP speaker was “productive” and helped to restart talks.
“It got us back in the room together,” McHenry said. “We have a sort of updated sense of our realities. We know the deadline. Both sides are working in good faith, but we’ve got tough issues.”
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