WASHINGTON — High-stakes talks over a withdrawal limit hike were abruptly interrupted in the Capitol on Friday as Republican negotiators walked out of the room and accused the White House of holding talks on hold.
Rep. Garrett Graves (R., Louisiana) told reporters, “Until people actually try to have rational conversations about how they can move forward and do the right thing, we can’t. I’m not going to sit here and talk to myself.”
“I decided to press pause due to low productivity,” he added. Graves said he didn’t know if talks would resume this weekend.
Financial markets fell on the news after a week of positive negotiations that seemed to indicate a deal was near.
One of the toughest deadlocks in the negotiations is the question of spending caps, a key Republican demand but a red line for the main Democratic bloc.
As the White House presses for a debt ceiling hike that will push the 2024 presidential election past the next deadline, Republicans will move beyond the current topline freeze and actually cut government spending by 2024 next year’s spending cap. claims. 2022 level.
“We cannot spend more next year,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters after talks fell apart on Friday. “We have to spend less than last year. It’s very easy.”
Each camp’s demands may sound simple, but with growing voices against any compromise between the conservative Republican and progressive Democratic blocs, there’s a lot more to be said for party leaders this week than for their respective members. Organizing rallies has become even more difficult.
Any agreement to raise or suspend the debt ceiling would require passage by both the Republican-led House and the Democratic-led Senate, and key lawmakers from both parties said the final compromise would be hard-liners on either side. I admit that it may not be acceptable to me.
A White House press secretary told NBC News after the talks fell apart that “there are big differences between the parties on the budget issue that will make talks difficult.” “The president’s team is working hard toward a reasonable, bipartisan solution that can pass the House and Senate.”
The breakdown in talks came a day after Mr McCarthy said congressional negotiators were optimistic that a deal could be reached by next week’s House vote.
A California Republican lawmaker told reporters on Thursday that he “sees a path to a deal.”
President Joe Biden is in Japan for the G7 summit this weekend, but cut short his visit to return home on Sunday to continue negotiations.
Both the House and Senate have retained their original plans to leave on Thursday weekend. The Senate does not plan to resume session until the last few days of May.
But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York advised lawmakers to give them 24 hours’ notice to be ready to return to the Capitol.
Investors have been watching Washington closely this week for signs of progress in the months-long battle over the debt ceiling. Earlier this month, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen set June 1 as the earliest date the United States could run out of money to pay the government’s debt already owed.
The date came sooner than expected by the White House and Wall Street, adding a new sense of urgency to negotiations that had virtually stalled since February.
After meeting with congressional leaders at the White House on Tuesday, President Joe Biden named two aides to take over talks that had made little progress so far.
McCarthy praised Biden’s picks for Presidential Advisor Steve Rickety and Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, calling them “extremely smart.”