WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will meet face to face Monday after a weekend of on again, off again negotiations over raising the nation's debt ceiling and mere days before the government could reach a "hard deadline" and run out of cash to pay its bills.The two sides are working to reach a budget compromise before June 1, when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said the country could default.McCarthy and Republicans are insisting on spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt limit.
Biden has come to the negotiating table after balking for months but says the GOP lawmakers will have to back off their "extreme positions."On Sunday evening, negotiators met again and appeared to be narrowing on a 2024 budget year cap that could resolve the standoff.
After speaking with Biden by phone as the president traveled home from a trip to Asia, McCarthy sounded somewhat optimistic.
But he warned that "there's no agreement on anything."U.S. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) talks to reporters at the U.S.