U.S.
House
Speaker
Kevin
McCarthy
(R-CA)
speaks
to
reporters
with
U.S.
Senate
Republican
Minority
Leader
Mitch
McConnell
(R-KY)
at
his
side
following
debt
limit
talks
at
the
White
House
in
Washington,
U.S.,
May
9,
2023.
Kevin
Lamarque
|
Reuters
The
on-again,
off-again
deliberations
on
Capitol
Hill
surrounding
the
debt
ceiling
are
back
off-again,
as
House
Speaker
Kevin
McCarthy
told
reporters
on
Saturday
Republicans
will
only
continue
negotiations
when
President
Joe
Biden
returns
from
the
Group
of
Seven
Summit
in
Japan.
“Unfortunately,
the
White
House
moved
backwards,”
McCarthy
said
about
the
current
deliberations
surrounding
the
debt
ceiling.
“I
don’t
think
we’re
going
to
be
able
to
move
forward
until
the
president
can
get
back
in
the
country,”
he
added.
On
Saturday
evening,
the
Biden
administration
countered
that
it
was
the
Republicans
who
on
Friday
made
an
offer
on
the
debt
ceiling
that
was
“a
big
step
back,”
asserting
that
the
proposal
contained
“extreme
partisan
demands
that
could
never
pass
both
Houses
of
Congress.”
“It
is
only
a
Republican
leadership
beholden
to
its
MAGA
wing
—
not
the
President
or
Democratic
leadership
—
who
are
threatening
to
put
our
nation
into
default
for
the
first
time
in
our
history
unless
extreme
partisan
demands
are
met,”
according
to
a
statement
by
Biden
press
secretary
Karine
Jean-Pierre.
Biden
is
scheduled
to
return
to
Washington,
D.C.,
from
the
G-7
summit
on
Sunday.
The
president
said
at
a
press
conference
from
the
summit
that
he
is
“not
at
all”
concerned
about
the
negotiations
and
believes
“we’ll
be
able
to
avoid
a
default
and
we’ll
get
something
decent
done.”
McCarthy’s
revelation
that
the
talks
are
on
pause
again,
at
least
for
now,
is
the
latest
hurdle
facing
the
debate
in
Congress
on
what
to
do
with
the
pending
debt
limit.
Treasury
Secretary
Janet
Yellen
pegged
June
1
as
the
earliest
date
on
which
the
United
States could
run
out
of
money to
pay
debts
the
government
has
already
incurred.
Any
deal
to
raise
or
suspend
the
debt
limit
will
need
to
pass
in
both
the
GOP-led
House
and
the
Democratic-controlled
Senate,
and
key
lawmakers
in
both
parties
have
acknowledged
that
the
eventual
compromise
bill
could
be
unacceptable
to
hardliners.
The
high-stakes
talks
over
raising
the
debt
limit
resumed
in
the
Capitol
on
Friday
evening,
hours
after
they
were
paused
at
midday
when
Republican
negotiators
walked
out
of
the
room,
blaming
the
White
House
for
holding
up
discussions.