Negotiations between top White House officials and Republican congressional officials over a deal to raise the debt limit resumed Friday just hours after House GOP leaders said it was time to “press pause,” complaining that President Biden’s team was unreasonable and no progress could be made. made.
The abrupt reversal reflected the unwieldy state of negotiations for an agreement between two parties to avoid a debt default that could occur as early as June 1.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Fox Business Friday night that Republicans would return to the negotiating table and bipartisan talks at the Capitol would continue well into the night.
“We’ll be back in the room tonight,” Mr. McCarthy said. “But it’s very frustrating when they want to come into the room and think we’re going to spend more money next year than we did this year. That is not right and it will not happen.”
Hours earlier, Mr McCarthy and one of his top advisers declared they were halting negotiations, saying White House officials refused to budge on cuts. “We need to get movement at the White House, and we’re not having movement,” McCarthy said.
Adding to the whiplash sensation were the speaker’s remarks on Thursday, in which he expressed his optimism that negotiators could in principle reach a deal as early as the weekend.
The return to the negotiating table on Friday night underscored the growing sense of urgency to find a solution as Congress runs out of time to avoid the country’s first bankruptcy in history and the economic disaster that could follow.
Once a deal is in place, it will take time to translate into law and pass through Congress for Mr. Biden to sign. Mr McCarthy has promised his conference that he will give lawmakers 72 hours to read the bill before voting on it.
Republicans hinted that a major source of their frustration was how strictly federal spending should be capped. The bill passed by House Republicans last month would raise the country’s borrowing limit to next year in exchange for freezing spending at last year’s levels for a decade — leading to cuts of an average of 18 percent .
The bill is a dead letter in the Democrat-controlled Senate, but the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus said Thursday that Republicans should push for it to be passed as is.
“No more discussion about toning it down,” the group said in a tweet. “Period of time.”
White House officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations, acknowledged significant disagreements between the parties, including over Mr. McCarthy’s stance on limiting federal spending.
Former President Donald J. Trump also weighed in Friday on Truth Social, the social media website he founded, stating that Republicans shouldn’t make a deal on the debt ceiling unless they get everything they want.
“DO NOT FOLD!!!” He wrote.
Negotiators disagreed on a handful of issues, including the extent to which a potential deal would include stricter work requirements for social safety net programs — a proposal that has been met with opposition from progressive Democrats — and the length of any extension of the debt limit.
Conservatives in the House GOP conference had become increasingly concerned in recent days that Mr. McCarthy would agree to a deal that would freeze spending at current levels, rather than last year’s levels, and not lock in the kind of cuts for which they’ve been waiting a long time. excited.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs reporting contributed.