President Joe Biden and top congressional leaders opened their second meeting on talks over raising the debt limit as the White House said it is reevaluating parts of Biden's overseas trip that is scheduled to begin later this week.
Biden is meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Unlike last week's meeting, Vice President Kamala Harris is participating in Tuesday's session.
“We’re just getting started," Biden said in brief remarks to reporters ahead of the meeting, being held in the Oval Office. Biden has remained optimistic on the talks, while McCarthy has said publicly that the negotiators have made little progress ahead of a June 1 deadline, which is when the Treasury Department says the U.S. could begin defaulting on its debts.
As June 1 approaches, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has warned of a “significant risk” of default sometime in the first two weeks of next month.
The CBO noted that if the cash flow at the Treasury and the “extraordinary measures” that the department is now using can continue to pay for bills through June 15, the government can probably finance its operations through the end of July. That’s because the expected tax revenues that will come in mid-June and other measures will give the federal government enough cash for at least a few more weeks.
(Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)
