2023-05-26 00:15:41
© Reuters. US President Joe Biden with Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy in the Oval Office of the White House 05/22/2023 REUTERS/Leah Millis
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden said he has had several productive conversations with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy about the impasse over the U.S. government debt ceiling, adding that negotiators remain with the talks this Thursday.
White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt said a deal on the debt ceiling was close at hand as Republicans and Democrats race to strike a pact to avoid default.
“We’re getting closer to an agreement,” LaBolt told MSNBC.
Biden, speaking at a White House event for his new pick to chair the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Republicans are pushing for drastic cuts that would increase wait times for Social Security claims and cut spending on teachers, police and agents. of Border Patrol.
“I’m not going to go along with that,” Biden said. “The only way forward is with a bipartisan agreement, and I believe we will reach an agreement (that) will allow us to move forward and protect the American workers of this country.”
Biden said negotiations with McCarthy are “about the contours of what the budget will look like, not about default. These are competing visions for America.”
He added: “President McCarthy and I have a very different view of who should shoulder the burden of further efforts to get our fiscal house in order. I don’t believe the entire burden should fall on the backs of the American middle class and working class. . My House Republican friends disagree.”
(Reporting by Nandita Bose)
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