![]() ![]() The White House has made clear they don’t want to repeal parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, which was included in the GOP’s debt ceiling bill. As CNN reported earlier this week, the White House has signaled they are open to talking about areas like the budget, work requirements and permitting reform. The scope, the terms and the order that things are voted on? That’s all very much in play right now. ![]() It’s a key and tedious task, but it’s significant because it indicates that there is going to be negotiation over the debt ceiling after months of posturing from Democrats that they were not going to negotiate with the full faith and credit of the United States. Over the last several days, aides have been trying to lay out the parameters of what they are negotiating. McCarthy told CNN on Thursday that “The White House didn’t cancel the meeting, all of the leaders decided it’s probably in the best of our interest to let the staff meet again before we get back together.” It’s just not productive for the principles to re-litigate their talking points in the Oval Office and staff had not gotten themselves to a place yet where there was enough for Biden and McCarthy to actually negotiate on. She did not have an update on timing for the next principles meeting, only saying it would be “early next week.” ![]() In a press briefing Friday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also said staff level talks would continue over the weekend. What staffers didn’t want to happen was a repeat of Tuesday: a high stakes meeting followed by dueling press conferences where everyone argued there hadn’t been much progress. Those are all words that bode well for the direction this is going. Behind the scenes, the negotiations between staff have been productive, respectful and in “good faith,” according to people on both sides. It’s important not to lose sight of the fact that it, in and of itself, is a major shift. But, behind the scenes, there are finally talks after months of no communication over the issue. There is still so much work ahead and members who are on the sidelines of these now tightly held negotiations are placing a lot of faith in their respective leadership to cut a deal at a scale that McCarthy and Biden have never done together before. What I truly believe here, looking at the actions of this president, he doesn’t want to deal, he wants to default,” he said. The rhetoric has still been hot with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sending a letter to his members this morning urging Republicans to “take default off the table” and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy telling CNN on Thursday of the intensive staff meetings that have played out over the last two days. One source said it takes months to hammer out a fiscal deal, but they are trying to do that in just a matter of days. Two sources involved in the talks said there has been progress but there’s a long way to go. On the other, there have been pockets of progress over the intervening days and signs that some of the most stringent and hardened positions negotiators have been echoing over the last three months are slowly beginning to soften.Īfter meeting Friday for a third straight day, House, Senate and White House negotiators still don’t have a deal but are expected to continue to talk over the weekend, according to a source familiar with the matter. On one hand, it looks like this could go to the brink. After a week of meetings on the debt ceiling, Congress, the White House and the country still do not have a clear path forward to avoid a cataclysmic default with just four days when both the House and Senate are scheduled to be in session before June 1, when the US could default on its obligations. ![]()
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