Republicans call White House ‘unreasonable’ as debt ceiling talks hit impasse
- No progress cited by representatives of both Biden and House Speaker McCarthy following a second meeting, but the president said he remained optimistic
- The months-long stalemate and threat of a debt default has prompted warnings from economists of a damaging recession if the brinkmanship continues
A second meeting on Friday between White House and Republican congressional negotiators on raising the federal government’s US$31.4 trillion debt ceiling broke up with no progress cited by either side and no additional meeting set.
That came at the end of a day of acrimonious talks that were broken off for several hours, with less than two weeks to go before June 1, when the Treasury Department warned that the federal government could be unable to pay all its debts. That would trigger a calamitous default.
While the White House acknowledged that “serious differences” remained with Republicans who control the House of Representatives, President Joe Biden said he still believed a default could be avoided.
“I still believe we’ll be able to avoid a default and we’ll get something decent done,” Biden told reporters in Hiroshima, Japan, where he is attending a meeting of leaders of the Group of Seven rich nations.
Republicans have said they would not approve an increase in the federal government’s borrowing limit without agreement on sharp spending cuts.
The lead Republican in the talks said no progress had been made on Friday.