Debt-ceiling negotiations will resume Friday night after breaking down earlier in the day, with Republican negotiators blaming the White House for making unreasonable demands.
“It’s true that we took a pause because of the frustration that this White House will not acknowledge that they’re spending too much,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) said in an interview on Fox Business. “We’ll be back in the room tonight.”
“I think we could probably find a pretty good agreement to be able to move forward. But the White House will not budge,” said McCarthy, adding that President Joe Biden isn’t even in the country today.
“This is part of the problem,” he said.
McCarthy and his chief negotiator, Representative Garret Graves (R., La.), said earlier in the day that the other side wasn’t willing to have a reasonable conversation.
“We decided to press pause because it’s just not productive,” Graves said.
Late last month, House Republicans narrowly passed a bill to raise the nation’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling by an additional $1.5 trillion. The Limit, Save, Grow Act implements sizable cuts to domestic programs but spares the Pentagon’s budget. It returns funding for federal agencies to 2022 levels while aiming to limit the growth in spending to 1 percent per year. It also blocks Biden’s plan to grant student-loan forgiveness and repeals green-energy tax credits that were part of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer were quick to announce their opposition to the proposal, instead demanding a “clean” debt-ceiling increase that doesn’t include any spending cuts. Talks have been ongoing since then, with Biden canceling parts of a planned trip to Asia as the default date nears.
Positive talks were held throughout the week but broke down Friday afternoon. Financial markets dipped on news of the pause.
McCarthy clarified that his position is a simple one.
“We’ve got to get movement by the White House, and we don’t have any movement yet,” said McCarthy. “We can’t be spending more money next year. We have to spend less than we spent the year before. It’s pretty easy.”
An unnamed White House official told the Associated Press that there are “real differences” between the parties on the budget issues and further “talks will be difficult.”