Debt limit progress as Biden, McCarthy name top negotiators to avert national default
Associated PressWASHINGTON — Debt-limit talks shifted into an encouraging new phase Tuesday as President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy named top emissaries to negotiate a deal to avert an unprecedented national default. “But I made it clear to the speaker and others that we’ll speak regularly over the next several days and staff’s going to continue meeting daily to make sure we do not default.” Senior White House officials, as well as top aides to the four congressional leaders — McCarthy, R-Calif., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. — have been meeting daily. Still, Kirby added, “We wouldn’t even be having this discussion about the effect of the debt ceiling debate on the trip if Congress would do its job, raise the debt ceiling the way they’ve always done.” Even as the Democratic president and the Republican speaker box around the politics of the issue — with Biden insisting he’s not negotiating over the debt ceiling and McCarthy working to extract spending cuts with the backdrop of a potential default — various areas of possible agreement appeared to be emerging. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said, “We want to make sure that these negotiations do not include spending cuts, do not include work requirements, things that would harm people, people in rural areas, black, brown, indigenous folks.” Democratic leader Jeffries’ staff sought to assuage the concerns late Monday, while a separate group of more centrist Democrats signaled to their moderate Republican colleagues they are prepared to work something out to reach a debt ceiling deal, aides said Tuesday.