HIROSHIMA – President Joe Biden remains “confident” about resolving a stalemate on raising the debt ceiling, despite “real differences” with Republicans, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said today.
There “continues to be real differences” but “the president is confident that there is a path forward,” she said in Hiroshima, where Biden is attending a G7 summit.
Negotiations in Washington hit an impasse yesterday when Republicans – who want the White House to accept deep budget cuts in return for greenlighting the usually uncontroversial annual extension of the US government’s borrowing authority – said they wanted a “pause.”
That raised fears that the two sides will fail to find an agreement before the so-called “X date” when the US government runs out of money and plunges into an economically disastrous debt default.
However, a resumption in negotiations after the Republican pause meant “we are indeed optimistic,” Jean-Pierre said.
“What’s important is there were conversations that just concluded moments ago,” she said. “That’s important.”
Biden, who cut short a planned trip to Australia and Papua New Guinea so he could return to the White House on Sunday, is being briefed regularly on the talks at home, Jean-Pierre said.
“He is being kept up to date daily...multiple times a day,” she said. “The president is all over this.”
The Democratic president is deeply opposed to the Republicans’ use of the debt ceiling decision as a bargaining chip on budget cuts, so it remains unclear if they will find a compromise.
Jean-Pierre said a solution would be found “if both sides come in good faith.” – AFP, May 20, 2023
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