Biden, McCarthy make ‘no promises’ on debt, will keep talking

WASHINGTON — (TNS) House Speaker Kevin McCarthy left a White House meeting with President Joe Biden on Wednesday afternoon saying they had a “good conversation,” but made “no agreements, no promises” in regard to the debt limit.

The California Republican reiterated his position that he wants to lift the debt limit in a “sensible, responsible” manner “but not continue this runaway spending.”

McCarthy said he and Biden left the meeting promising to continue the conversation. “I think at the end of the day we can find common ground. I really do,” he said.

A White House readout of the meeting said Biden made clear to McCarthy that lifting the debt ceiling is “not negotiable or conditional.” The president welcomes a separate discussion with congressional leaders about deficit reduction, the White House said.

McCarthy, who has been clear Republicans want to cut spending in exchange for lifting the debt limit, said he talked to Biden about “a lot of different ideas” but he did not reveal details publicly. However, he did hint that he’s looking for a two-year discretionary spending caps agreement, a result that’s occurred in past debt limit negotiations.

“I believe if we are able to get to an agreement, we could have a funding agreement for the next two years,” he said. “You won’t see omnibuses any more. You’ll see the Senate and the House actually do the job the American public has elected them to do, to walk through the appropriations process.”

McCarthy dismissed an option other lawmakers have floated to create a fiscal commission to propose spending overhauls. “We don’t need a commission to tell us to do our job that the American people elected us to do,” he said.

‘We just have a spending problem’

McCarthy also dismissed the idea of raising taxes or finding other revenue to offset spending, instead of cutting it. Democrats have often pushed for revenue offsets in fiscal negotiations and Biden has said his coming budget blueprint will again offer proposals to tax the country’s wealthiest individuals.

“We’ve got a lot of revenue. We just have a spending problem,” McCarthy said. “And that’s where I want to ... find common ground.”

McCarthy said he was not concerned some Republicans won’t go along with his plan to demand spending cuts on the debt ceiling. “The Republicans are very united,” he said.

Biden said several times before the meeting that he planned to ask McCarthy to present a budget blueprint that would outline the spending cuts Republicans are seeking.

He is set to submit his own budget to Congress on March 9, a month after the statutory deadline. Republicans have said they’re hoping to produce their budget before the April 15 statutory deadline for Congress to complete one, which is unlikely to happen with divided government.

The Treasury Department is using so-called extraordinary measures to keep from breaching the debt limit, tools it said will last until at least June. But nonetheless Treasury officials and bond market participants want Congress to raise the debt limit as soon as possible.

“Failing to do so is a reckless and inappropriate approach to managing fiscal policy and may jeopardize Treasury market functioning and increase costs to the taxpayer,” Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee Chair Beth Hammack and Vice Chair Deirdre Dunn said in a Tuesday letter to Secretary Janet L. Yellen. The committee consists of representatives from major banks, insurers, hedge funds and other asset managers who advise Treasury on debt management.

(By Lindsey McPherson and Aidan Quigley, CQ-Roll Call. Staff writers David Lerman, Peter Cohn and Paul M. Krawzak contributed to this report.)