WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden sought Monday to ease a debt limit standoff by inviting the four Congressional leaders to the White House on May 9 — signaling the growing fears of a default as the federal government might be unable to pay its bills as soon as June 1.
Administration and congressional officials confirmed the individual calls to lawmakers and the meeting date, insisting on anonymity to discuss the plans. Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he spoke with Biden and expects to speak with him again, though he did not say whether he will attend the meeting.
Biden plans to stress that Congress must take action to avoid default without conditions and will discuss the urgency of preventing default, as well as how to begin a separate process for passing a separate fiscal 2024 budget. But if even the lawmakers talk, there is no guarantee of progress on an issue that has revealed a gulf in how Democrats and Republicans think the country should be governed.
Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, are at an impasse on lifting the government’s borrowing authority. The president has called for a clean increase to the $31.4 trillion cap, while McCarthy and GOP lawmakers are demanding spending cuts in return and passed a bill with $4.8 trillion in deficit savings over 10 years last week.
McCarthy has called on Biden to engage in talks. But as recently as shortly after noon on Monday, the president said in a speech that the GOP congressional leader needed to first make a commitment that the US government would not default.
(1) comment
Wow the Dirtbags (IMHO) at the Associated Press do not even list the names of the congressman invited to the white house...Maybe it is Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney, Mitch McConnell, or Adam Kinzinger all cowardly traitors (IMHO)...Biden is a Coward...invite "Kevin McCarthy" to the white house....Biden you Rat Brained POS Coward. And seeing how Biden is trying to Destroy America (a debt that he owes China)...lets speed things along....After all you don't mind if your grandchildren are slaves (to pay off America's massive debt) do you...?
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.