[ad_1]

US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Saturday that Republican negotiators are “closer to an agreement” that would resolve the looming debt crisis, but they have not reached an agreement with President Joe Biden.
He said there was no firm timetable for reaching a final compromise that would raise the country’s borrowing limit and avoid a catastrophic default with spending cuts demanded by House Republicans. House negotiators left the Capitol just after 2 a.m. and returned hours later.
“We’ll get it when it gets right,” McCarthy he said as he arrived on Capitol Hill. McCarthy’s comments mirrored the latest assessment of Biden, who said Friday night that bargaining was “very close.”
Their optimism came as Chancellor of the Exchequer Janet Yellen He told Congress that the United States could default on its debt obligations by June 5 — four days later than previously expected — if lawmakers did not move in time to raise the federal debt ceiling. The extended “X-date” gives both sides some extra time as they scramble to strike a deal.
Both sides have suggested that a major impediment is the GOP’s effort to expand existing work requirements for recipients of food stamps and other federal aid programs, a long-standing Republican goal that Democrats have vehemently opposed. The White House said the Republican proposals were “cruel and meaningless”.
McCarthy declined to go into the details of those discussions. One of his negotiators, Louisiana Representative Garrett Graves, said there was “no chance” the Republicans would concede on the issue. Still, Biden was optimistic when he left for Camp David on Friday night, saying, “It’s very close, and I’m hopeful.”
Americans and the world have been watching a negotiating brinkmanship that could throw the American economy into chaos and undermine the world’s confidence in the nation’s leadership.
Failure to raise the borrowing limit, now at $31 trillion, to pay the country’s incurred bills would send shock waves in the US and the global economy. relents Failing to act by the new date, he said, “will cause great suffering to American families, harm our standing as global leadership and raise questions about our ability to defend our national security interests.” Worried retirees and others were already making contingency plans for missed checks, with the next Social Security payments due next week.
Biden and McCarthy appear to be narrowing the scope of a two-year budget cuts agreement that would also extend the debt limit into 2025 after the next presidential election. The outlines of the deal are shaping up to cut spending for 2024 and put a 1% cap on spending growth for 2025.
Lawmakers are not expected to return to work from Memorial Day recess before Tuesday, at the earliest, and McCarthy has promised lawmakers to abide by the rule to post any bill 72 hours before a vote. The Democratic-controlled Senate stayed out of the negotiations, leaving the talks to Biden and McCarthy. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has vowed to move quickly to send a settlement package to Biden’s desk.



[ad_2]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *