President Biden said Monday that he plans to meet again Tuesday with top congressional leaders to continue talks on the budget and debt limit as the federal government risks running out of cash to pay its bills as early as June 1.
Biden confirmed plans for the meeting during a brief interaction with reporters in Philadelphia, a day after saying he was “optimistic” that an accord could be reached with Republicans to avert a fiscal catastrophe.
Speaking to reporters earlier Monday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) struck a decidedly more pessimistic tone following staff-level conversations over the weekend.
“It doesn’t seem to me yet they want a deal,” McCarthy said of the White House. “It just seems like they want to look like they are in a meeting, but they aren’t talking anything serious. … It seems more like they want a default than a deal to me.”
The Republican-led House passed a bill late last month that would condition raising the debt ceiling — the cap on the amount that the United States may borrow to cover its bills — on major spending cuts.
Biden and fellow Democrats have said that they want a clean debt ceiling bill, noting that Republicans agreed to raise the debt limit three times under President Donald Trump without any similar demands.
Biden, McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) met last Tuesday and had planned to meet again Friday. That meeting was postponed to give staffers more time to prepare options.
The House speaker’s top aides said they remain focused chiefly on four key areas in their recently passed bill: cutting spending, rescinding previously authorized coronavirus aid, easing the way for new oil and gas drilling, and imposing new work requirements on welfare recipients, including Americans on food stamps and Medicaid.
Biden spoke with reporters on Sunday during a bike ride in Delaware, where he stayed over the weekend.
“I remain optimistic because I’m a congenital optimist,” Biden said. “But I really think there’s a desire on their part as well as ours to reach agreement. I think we’ll be able to do it.”
Biden suggested he’s willing to negotiate with Republicans on work requirements. He told reporters he voted for “tougher aid programs” in the past but said “for Medicaid it’s a different story, so I’m waiting to hear what their exact proposal is.”
The White House later clarified his comments, saying the president “has been clear that he will not accept proposals that take away people’s health coverage. The President has also been clear that he will not accept policies that push Americans into poverty.”
On Monday, Biden traveled from Rehoboth Beach, Del., to Philadelphia for the graduation of his granddaughter Maisy Biden from the University of Pennsylvania.
During separate interactions along the way with reporters, he said he had no updates on the status of negotiations and confirmed plans for Tuesday’s meeting.
Biden is set to depart Washington on Wednesday for Japan, where he is scheduled to attend a meeting of the Group of Seven nations.
Tony Romm, Leigh Ann Caldwell and Theodoric Meyer contributed to this report.