Biden says debt ceiling deal 'very close' as Treasury Department extends default deadline
WASHINGTON (TND) — The House and Senate are out, the president is spending Memorial Day weekend at Camp David, and a deal to raise the debt ceiling before a default has yet to be reached.
A deadline for a potentially catastrophic default was pushed back to June 5 and seemed likely to drag negotiations between the White House and Republicans into another frustrating week.
Staff representing the White House and the office of the Speaker of the House have been in almost constant negotiations this week but still remain far apart on key areas like work requirements for certain government safety net programs and non-defense spending levels. Both sides continue to say they're making progress.
We worked through the night last night. I thought we made progress yesterday. I want to make progress again today and I want to be able to solve this problem," House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters Friday morning.
During a White House event with Louisiana State University's women's basketball team Friday afternoon, President Joe Biden did not answer reporters' shouted questions about the debt ceiling.
Biden plans to spend the weekend at Camp David. When asked if he should be in Washington this weekend, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden can deal with the issue from anywhere.
With each day that passes, doubts grow that legislation can be written, passed through Congress and signed by the president in time.
Despite urges from some progressive Democrats in Congress, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo threw cold water on the idea of Biden invoking the 14th Amendment to unilaterally instruct the Treasury to continue making payments after the debt ceiling is reached.
We don’t have a plan B that allows us to meet the commitments that we’ve made to our creditors, to our seniors, to our veterans, to the American people," Adeyemo said.
He said prioritizing bills is just a "default by another name."
In addition to missed payments to veterans, military personnel, Social Security recipients, Medicaid beneficiaries and more, a default is expected to spark panic on Wall Street. On Friday, UBS Wealth Management updated its outlook to reflect a scenario in which the S&P 500 could quickly drop by more than 10%.
The Associated Press attributed to this report.
