According to a person with knowledge of the situation, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has accepted an invitation to meet with Vice President Joe Biden on May 9 to discuss the debt ceiling. This development sets the stage for a pivotal moment in the ongoing dispute over the debt ceiling.
Biden extended an invitation to attend the gathering to each of the four congressional leaders.
The calls from Vice President Biden occurred after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen informed legislators on Monday that the United States may default on its debt by June 1. Biden’s calls came after Yellen’s notification.
Biden and McCarthy have not had a meeting together.
The proposal to raise the limit on the federal government’s debt was approved by the House of Representatives last week.
The package, which includes expenditure reductions, increased work requirements in safety net programs, and other measures that Democrats would not support, has been labeled as “dead on arrival” in the Senate by Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer. This is because the bill includes these provisions.
After the bill was approved by the House of Representatives, Vice President Joe Biden told reporters that he would be “happy to meet with McCarthy, but not on the subject of whether or not the debt limit gets extended.”
The White House has consistently stated that in order for the president to support an increase in the nation’s borrowing limit, the plan must be free of any political entanglements.
On Monday, in response to the comments made by Yellen, McCarthy released a statement that used the phrase “The clock is ticking.”
“After three months of inaction by the Biden administration, the House acted, and there is a bill sitting in the Senate right now that would put an end to the risk of default,” McCarthy said. “There is a bill that would put the risk of default to rest.” It is imperative that the President and the Senate get to work as quickly as possible.
