US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks to reporters with US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) at his side after the negotiations on debt limits at the White House in Washington, U.S., May 9, 2023.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
Time and again debates on Capitol Hill around the debt ceiling are up again, as Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy told reporters on Saturday, Republicans will only resume negotiations when the President Joe Biden returned from the Group of Seven Summit in Japan.
“Unfortunately, the White House has stepped back,” McCarthy said of the current considerations around the debt ceiling. “I don’t think we’ll be able to move forward until the president is able to return to the country,” he added.
Biden is planned return to Washington, DC, from the G-7 summit on Sunday. President speak at a press conference from the summit that he was “not at all” worried about the negotiations and believed “we’ll be able to avoid default and we’ll get something done.” economic.”
McCarthy’s revelation that negotiations are on hold again, at least for the moment, is the latest obstacle facing congressional debate over what to do with the pending debt limit. . Finance Minister Janet Yellen June 1 is the earliest date that the United States may run out of money to pay the debts owed by the government.
Any agreement to raise or suspend the debt limit would need to be passed in both the GOP-led House and Democratic-controlled Senate, and key lawmakers on both sides have acknowledged. acknowledge that the compromise bill may ultimately be unacceptable to hardliners.
High-stakes talks on debt limit increase resume at the Capitol on Friday night, hours after they paused at midday as Republican negotiators walked out of the room, blaming the White House for delaying the discussions.
