Debt ceiling talks briefly resume as US default deadline creeps closer
Negotiations for a deal to raise the US debt ceiling and thereby avoid a default with potentially catastrophic consequences for the world economy briefly resumed Friday before concluding with no progress cited by either side.
Republicans had returned to the bipartisan talks with the White House on Friday evening, hours after negotiations had come to an abrupt stop earlier in the day.
“We had a very, very candid discussion talking about where we are, talking about where things need to be,” said Garret Graves, the Republican representative, to reporters following a brief meeting in the Capitol with White House officials.
“This wasn’t a negotiation tonight,” Graves said, adding the timing of the next meeting was not set.
Representative Patrick McHenry said he was not confident the two sides could meet the House speaker Kevin McCarthy’s goal of reaching a deal this weekend.
Earlier in the day, Graves of Louisiana, the lead negotiator for House Republicans in talks with the Biden White House, had told reporters at the Capitol: “We’re not there.”
“We’ve decided to press pause, because it’s just not productive.”
The impasse had rattled financial markets with the deadline ticking closer to avoid default.
The treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, has said that without action the US government will cease to be able to pay its debts on or around 1 June.
Joe Biden is away at the G7 summit in Japan. White House officials were leading talks for Democrats.
One told the Guardian: “There are real differences between the parties on budget issues and talks will be difficult. The president’s team is working hard towards a reasonable bipartisan solution that can pass the House and the Senate.”
For decades after 1917, when the federal debt was capped,
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