2023-05-17 16:12:02
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he is confident the United States will not go into a catastrophic debt default, saying talks with congressional Republicans have been productive as he prepares to attend a world summit. in Japan.
“I am confident that we will reach an agreement on the budget and that the United States will not default,” the president said at the White House. He added that the dialogues with the legislators will continue “because there is no alternative.”
Biden made his comments just before leaving for a Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, and a day following the second meeting with congressional leaders in the Oval Office on ways to avoid a debt default.
The speaker and House speaker, Republican Kevin McCarthy, instructed negotiators to try to reach a final deal, and negotiations began Tuesday night. The negotiators include, for the government, Steve Ricchetti, adviser to the president; Director of Legislative Affairs Louisa Terrell and Director of the Office of Management and Budget Shalanda Young; and for the Republicans, Representative Garrett Graves, a close McCarthy ally.
“I think at the end of the day we won’t have a debt default,” McCarthy told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday. “The problem is that the deadline we have is very short.”
Negotiators are trying to reach an agreement that raises the debt limit before June 1, the date the Treasury Department says the United States might start defaulting on its financial obligations.
Currently, the national debt amounts to 31.4 trillion dollars. An increase in the debt ceiling would not authorize more spending and would only allow borrowing to pay for expenses that Congress has already approved.
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