US debt-limit negotiators aren’t planning to meet on Saturday, according to people with knowledge of the matter, as President Joe Biden signals he remains confident the government can avoid a catastrophic default.
Republican lawmakers designated by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and senior White House officials last met on Friday evening. The session followed a Republican walkout earlier in the day that tempered optimism about an emerging deal and drove down stocks.
Biden, who’s meeting with other world leaders at a Group of Seven summit in Japan as the debt-ceiling deadline inches closer, downplayed renewed concern that the endgame in Washington may fail.
“Not at all,” he said Saturday in Hiroshima when asked if he was concerned about the state of the talks. Negotiations go “in stages,” Biden said, adding he still believes “we’ll be able to avoid a default and we’ll get something decent done.”
The federal government’s coffers have been dwindling to the lowest level in almost a year-and-a-half, showing how the window for resolving the partisan standoff over the $31.4 trillion debt cap is narrowing. The Treasury Department said Friday it had run through all but about $92 billion of its authorized extraordinary measures as of May 17.
Republicans and the White House are battling over spending cuts, which GOP lawmakers demand as the price for raising the federal borrowing limit. White House communications director Ben LaBolt called on Republicans to consider raising revenues instead.
