40m ago / 5:01 PM UTC
Biden won’t use 14th Amendment to raise the debt limit, Treasury official says
Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said today that Biden would not use the 14th Amendment to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling, marking the administration’s most explicit rejection of the proposal.
In an appearance on CNN this morning, Adeyemo was asked whether Biden would consider using the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling if the country approaches a default without a bipartisan deal.
“I think the president and the secretary have been very clear that that will not solve our problems now. So, yes, that is a no,” Adeyemo said, adding that the only path forward is Congress for Congress to raise the debt ceiling.
“We don’t have a Plan B that allows us to meet the commitments we’ve made to our creditors, to our seniors, to our veterans, to the American people,” Adeyemo said. “The only plan we have is the one that’s worked for more than 200 years in this country, which is that the United States of America needs to pay all of its bills and pay them on time.”
58m ago / 4:43 PM UTC
Republicans are getting quiet — often that means a deal is close
With the high-stakes negotiations entering a do-or-die phase ahead of the holiday weekend, the typically buzzy and leaky GOP conference has gone quiet about the emerging deal’s outlines.
“I’m not concerned about anybody making any comments right now about what they think is in or not,” McCarthy said this morning when asked about reports of a two-year deal coming together behind closed doors. “Whenever we come to an agreement we’ll make sure we will first brief our entire conference.”
Those briefings are not yet happening, with Republicans across the party’s ideological range claiming ignorance about the deal’s contours.
“No smoke signals yet,” one Freedom caucus member told NBC News — saying they had been told “nothing” specific about the deal by Republican leadership.
Even typically chatty members close to the speaker have offered nothing but apologies today for how little they could share about a deal they expect to be asked to vote on next week.
In Washington negotiations, silence can mean many things. It often indicates a deal is close, with particularly sensitive issues moving to the forefront and the circle of knowledgeable participants shrinking.
Could that be the case here? Those in the know aren’t saying.
“Everyone wants a detail of this. Everyone wants a tweet,” Rep. Patrick McHenry, a top McCarthy negotiator, said Friday morning. “I want an agreement that changes the trajectory of the country.”
2h ago / 4:09 PM UTC
Democrats see two-year debt limit extension taking shape
The White House is pushing for a two-year extension of the debt ceiling and is privately optimistic it will achieve that, according to three sources familiar with the negotiations.
A two-year deal would represent an attempt to resolve the issue until after the 2024 election.
One of the sources said negotiators are “there on a 2-year debt limit extension,” adding that “we’re close” on a final deal but still working through some issues.
It’s not clear Republicans have agreed to lock that in, as various details of negotiations remain fluid. McCarthy avoided questions Friday about whether there’ll be a two-year extension, but said that negotiators “made progress last night” and need to “make more progress now.”
McCarthy’s House-passed bill included an extension of less than one year. GOP hardliners want a short fuse so they can return to demand more concessions before the next election.
2h ago / 4:08 PM UTC
Rep. Gaetz predicts any debt ceiling deal will pass with bipartisan support from moderates
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., a GOP hardliner who has been critical of McCarthy, predicted today that a bipartisan debt ceiling bill would pass with about 80-100 Democrat votes and about 140-160 Republican votes.
He said “the squad,” a progressive group of lawmakers, and the House Freedom Caucus would likely oppose any bipartisan deal, referring to a group of progressive Democrats and the House’s most staunch conservatives. In a Twitter Spaces event, Gaetz predicted that any deal would “rocket” through the Senate.
Gaetz added that he sees “no serious threat” to McCarthy’s speakership in the debt ceiling negotiations. Gaetz had been part of a coalition of Republicans who initially opposed McCarthy’s speakership, forcing him to grant concessions that made it easier to oust him from the role.
2h ago / 3:12 PM UTC
McCarthy says negotiators made ‘progress,’ but won’t commit to a deal today
McCarthy said negotiators made “progress” working late into the night yesterday, but that his conference wanted to “change the trajectory” of government spending to reduce federal debt.
Arriving at the Capitol today, McCarthy said he met with Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., a key GOP negotiator, this morning. He said staff “made progress last night,” but “we’ve got to make more progress now.”
When asked whether negotiators would reach a deal today, McCarthy said he would “work as hard as I can,” but any deal had to be “worthy of the American people.”
The speaker said negotiations over the debt ceiling were “coming down to one thing.”
“This has been about spending,” he said, criticizing Democrats for borrowing money from other countries and for opposing adding work requirements for people receiving government aid.
May 26, 202301:46
3h ago / 2:31 PM UTC
Sources: Negotiators signal talks stuck on work requirements
A person who spoke with negotiators Friday morning said they appeared “cautiously optimistic” about a debt deal but that the two sides remained hung up on GOP demands for stricter work requirements and a couple of other issues.
A second source familiar with the talks confirmed that both sides remain dug in over the work requirements issue and that the White House is pushing against policies they worry would “drive Americans into poverty or take their health care away.”
Time is quickly running out to strike a deal, write legislation and pass it in the House and Senate before the June 1 default deadline. But the first source, a Republican, said he believes Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will be able to find a way to extend that June 1 deadline.
“I think she’ll come forward and say we can prioritize payments,” the person said. “It doesn’t mean the markets won’t react unfavorably; it’s risky stuff.”
3h ago / 2:23 PM UTC
Debt ceiling talks are ‘close’ but ‘not there yet,’ source says
Negotiations over whether to raise the debt ceiling are “close but not there yet,” according to a Democratic source familiar with the state of talks.
Broad parameters of a deal are “coming together,” the source said, but the White House and congressional Republicans still need to work out details of an agreement.
The source said that they’re hopeful that there will be language of an agreement over the long weekend, but that any deal is still subject to negotiation.
4h ago / 1:27 PM UTC
Debt ceiling deal forecast: Maybe today
Everyone in Washington continues to try to suss out whether today will be the day.
One Democrat familiar with negotiations offered this take: “Don’t think it will be today but could be”
4h ago / 1:27 PM UTC
Stock futures up ahead of Friday market open
Stock futures rose slightly Friday as investors watched for signs of progress on debt ceiling negotiations, CNBC reported.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 51 points, or 0.2%. S&P 500 futures advanced 0.2%. Nasdaq-100 futures climbed 0.4%.
Washington is also watching Wall Street. A dip in the market, some D.C. insiders have speculated, may be the pressure needed to push a deal across the finish line.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
