CNN
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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy did not walk away from his expected meeting at the White House on Wednesday with a deal in hand to address the debt limit, but expressed optimism that he and President Joe Biden could reach consensus “on the left yet” the United States will reach default .
McCarthy and the president exchanged political jabs before the meeting — which preceded their negotiations on red lines that were passed on to the press and on social media. But emerging from the West Wing on Wednesday, the new House speaker struck an unexpectedly hopeful tone as he stressed that he believes they can reach a deal, although he remained steadfast in rejecting one. significant demand from the White House.
McCarthy told reporters after the meeting he informed Biden that the House would not pass a “clean” debt ceiling with no strings attached.
Asked what he offered the president, McCarthy said, “The only thing I’ve heard in the last month is that I’m not going to make a deal with you. I just spent an hour sitting with the President in the Oval Office talking about on what we can do with a debt ceiling. So, the first start, okay, that’s different than last month.
The US hit the debt ceiling set by Congress in January, forcing the Treasury Department to begin taking extraordinary measures to keep the government paying its bills and increasing pressure on Capitol Hill to avoid a catastrophic default later this year.
The White House and the new House GOP are largely at odds over how to work out a way to raise the debt limit, and while McCarthy called it “a good first meeting,” he also said they “have different views on it.”
“I think that at the end of the day, we will find common ground,” he added.
McCarthy said he told Biden he wanted a deal “before the deadline and we can start working on other things.” And a statement from the White House said that Biden “emphasized that he is eager to continue working across the aisle in good faith” and continue conversations with the speaker.
At the meeting, the White House statement said, the president “made it clear” to McCarthy that it was a shared responsibility not to allow a default on the nation’s debt.
After his first meeting at the White House since he won the speakership, McCarthy said he believed a funding agreement could be reached in the next two years and that “you won’t see omnibuses anymore.”
“You’re going to see the Senate and the House actually do what the American public chooses them to do,” he added.
The White House also said that Biden “welcomes a separate discussion with congressional leaders about how to reduce the deficit and control the national debt while maintaining economic growth.”
House Republicans say lifting the borrowing cap should be tied to spending cuts. And the White House, previously denied that it would offer concessions or negotiate on raising the debt ceiling.
The debt limit fight was seen as an early test of McCarthy’s leadership, balancing competing demands from different factions in his conference amid a slimmer majority. It also sheds light on how well McCarthy and Biden work with each other.
Senate Republicans have indicated they will sit back and see how the House GOP maneuvers a way to raise the $31.4 trillion borrowing limit — before deciding whether they should insert themselves into the process.
Republicans face a political risk as they push to cut spending: If they propose cuts to popular government programs and services, they could face a public backlash.
McCarthy prepared for the White House meeting by regularly consulting with allies on and off the Hill, sources familiar with the preparations told CNN.
This week McCarthy and his allies in the House GOP hashed out initial demands, discussing drastic cuts to domestic programs and a cut in defense spending — all while distancing themselves from both. programs to prevent voter turnout: Medicare and Social Security.
House Republicans hope to strengthen their negotiating hand with the White House by putting together a proposal, but getting the entire conference to agree on spending cuts has proven challenging.
The view from Republicans heading into Wednesday’s meeting is that it’s early days and there are still months of negotiations ahead — meaning there’s plenty of time for McCarthy to hammer out details. However, leaders also know that they need to start laying the foundation for their members now.
While the rhetoric of statements from McCarthy and the White House was somewhat muted after Wednesday’s meeting, both parties used the past week to draw lines in the sand about the negotiations.
McCarthy’s position that cuts to Medicare and Social Security are off the table in exchange for an increase in the debt ceiling has long attracted skepticism in the White House.
And in a memo to “interested parties” dated Monday written by National Economic Council Director Brian Deese and Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, Biden’s top economic advisers said the president intends to ask McCarthy on Wednesday: If McCarthy will commit the US not to default on its financial obligations and when McCarthy and House Republicans will release their budget.
A day before the meeting, the president suggested McCarthy enter the talks from a weak position, hampered by the agreements he made at an uncontrollable GOP conference.
Calling McCarthy a “decent man,” however, Biden said he was forced to cater to Republican extremists in his quest to become speaker.
Biden said at a high-dollar fundraiser in Manhattan that McCarthy should make commitments “that are completely off the wall for the speaker of the House to make.”
Responding to the president’s fundraiser comments, McCarthy told reporters, “Obviously, he doesn’t understand … I look forward to sitting down with the president, negotiating on behalf of the American public, the American people, how we savings will be found. We look at what spending has done, we look at what it has brought us to inflation, we look at the challenge that it has caused. We expect a change of course.”
This story was updated with additional developments on Wednesday.
