US President Joe Biden delivers remarks about the federal government debt limit during a visit to SUNY Westchester Community College Valhalla in Valhalla, New York, May 10, 2023.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and House Republicans remained far apart Tuesday, following an hour-long meeting on the debt ceiling in the Oval Office attended by all four top congressional leaders.
But those in attendance said they had made progress, including through an agreement to make direct one-on-one talks between a close ally of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and two White House aides, on behalf of Biden’s multilateral debt limit negotiations.
“That doesn’t mean we’re going to have an agreement,” McCarthy told reporters after the meeting, but he said there is “now a better process” overall.
Biden told reporters that he is often tasked with addressing many things at once, and that he feels confident that negotiations will progress even if he attends the G-7 summit.
“There is more work to be done but I made it clear to the speaker and others that we will be speaking regularly over the next few days and the staff will continue to meet every day to make sure we don’t default,” Biden told reporters afterward. of the meeting.
The White House said that “Biden has directed staff to continue to meet daily on outstanding issues. He said he wants to reach out to leaders later this week by phone, and meet with them upon his return from abroad.”
“There was overwhelming consensus I think in today’s meeting with congressional leaders that defaulting on the debt is not an option,” Biden told reporters.
The president said he was disappointed in congress that Republicans were unwilling to discuss “raising revenues” but that progress was being made.
It was “a good and productive meeting,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., who noted that it was “more cordial” than a previous meeting last week.
“Having a bipartisan bill in both chambers is the only way … we can avoid default,” Schumer said.
The White House also said Tuesday it would cancel the second leg of the president’s upcoming international trip, given the delicate state of debt ceiling negotiations.
Biden is currently scheduled to leave Wednesday for Japan, where he will attend the G-7 summit. He will now return to the US on Sunday immediately after the meeting, and will not make planned visits to Papua New Guinea and Australia, a source familiar with Biden’s trip planning told NBC News.
His return would set up a critical phase in efforts to avoid a first-ever US debt default and avoid major economic damage.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met Tuesday with McCarthy, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. McCarthy said his side will be represented in the ongoing talks by his close ally in the House, Rep. Garrett Graves, R-La., and that the White House will deploy Shalanda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, and Steve Ricchetti, one of Biden’s closest advisers in the West Wing.
In recent days, stricter work requirements for social safety net programs have emerged as a potential area of compromise.
Work restrictions for social programs are a key demand of House Republicans, who included them in a partisan debt limit bill that passed that chamber last month.
“The public wants it,” McCarthy said Tuesday, citing a recent ballot initiative in Wisconsin. “Both parties want that idea [Democrats] Wanting to put us in a default because they won’t work with us is ridiculous to me.”
But the issue is also a red line for some progressive Democrats, a fact that could scramble the vote math of any debt limit deal that might pass the House.
Increasing the current work requirements for federal aid programs is “a non-starter for me,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat and member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, on MSNBC.
“It’s just cruel, especially as we’re seeing the economy slow down,” Khanna said. “I’m hopeful the president will stick to what he said, that we pay our debts and then we can negotiate on the budget.”
Over the weekend, Biden answered a question about work requirements by pointing to his own Senate record of voting for welfare work requirements in the 1990s.
“I voted for tougher aid programs, that’s in the law now, but for Medicaid it’s a different story,” Biden said Sunday in Rehoboth, Del. “And so I’m waiting to hear what their exact proposal is.”
A Republican bill passed last month includes stricter work requirements not just for Medicaid, but for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, or TANF, funds, as well as Supplemental food stamps Nutrition Assistance Program.
The White House reiterated Tuesday that Biden would waive at least some of the proposed job requirements.
Biden “will not accept proposals that would take away people’s health coverage,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. He did not say, however, that he would not accept changes to food stamps or temporary assistance programs.
This is a developing story, please check back for updates.
