President Biden, Kevin McCarthy to meet on debt ceiling this week

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Biden are set to meet this week to discuss raising the debt ceiling, a move required for the U.S. to keep paying its bills.

The federal government reached its self-imposed limit on borrowing funds last week. While the Treasury Department has since deployed an array of financial tricks to keep the government running, Congress must vote to increase the debt ceiling or risk defaulting on its debt.

Hardcore conservatives have called for spending cuts in exchange for approving more borrowing. McCarthy, who only became speaker earlier this month after making humiliating concessions to the far right of his party, says he will raise the issue of cuts when he meets with Biden on Wednesday.

“I know the president said he didn’t want to have any discussion [on cuts], but I think it’s very important that our whole government is designed to find compromise,” the California Republican said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

“I want to sit down together, work out an agreement that we can move forward to put us on a path to balance — and at the same time not put any of our debt in jeopardy at the same time,” he added.

McCarthy voiced optimism that Biden, a Democrat, would be willing to consider spending cuts, though the White House has insisted the debt ceiling is an entirely separate issue.

“Now, I know his staff tries to say something different, but I think the president is going to be willing to make an agreement together,” McCarthy said of Biden.

The president last week warned Democratic lawmakers that Republicans were gunning for Social Security and Medicare.

Asked about possible cuts to those popular programs, McCarthy said Sunday, “Let’s take those off the table.”

Pressed on the matter, he answered, “I want to eliminate waste wherever it is ... I want to look at every single department.”

The clock is ticking on reaching a deal.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Thursday that her department’s stopgap measures to keep the government running are “subject to considerable uncertainty.”

If a deal stalls in Congress, where Republicans control the House and Democrats run the Senate, the government may be unable to pay employees, among other problems. Longer term, a stalemate could wreak havoc on the global economy.

Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) repeated Dems’ stance on Sunday.

“Our position is: raise the debt ceiling, pay the bills. That’s our position. We are not going to negotiate with ourselves,” Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, told “Fox News Sunday.”

“If the Republicans want to put something on the table and say, ‘This is what we want to cut,’ well, then we can have a conversation, but that’s where we’re at in the negotiation.”

Last week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both New York Democrats, used their first joint press conference to denounce the GOP approach to the debt ceiling as vague.

“Right now, the Republicans don’t have a plan,” Smith said. “Their plan, as led by the extremists in their party, is to complain about spending, not raise the debt ceiling, but not actually offer a plan that says, ‘This is what we’re going to cut.’”

With News Wire Services