Biden plans to call McCarthy in effort to break debt-ceiling impasse

President Joe Biden said Sunday he plans to call House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from Air Force One on his way back to Washington from his trip to the G-7 Summit in Japan in an effort to restart negotiations to avoid a first-ever U.S. government default.

The Republicans must step away from their “extreme position” on the debt ceiling if the two sides are to reach an agreement, Biden said at a press conference in Japan, the Associated Press reported.

“It’s time for Republicans to accept that there is no bipartisan deal to be made solely, solely on their partisan terms,” he said in Japan before his departure back to the U.S.

Biden said he had agreed to significant cuts in spending. “Now it’s time for the other side to move from their extreme position,” he added.

On Saturday, McCarthy had insisted, via tweet, that it was the White House that had moved backward in the negotiations.

GOP legislators are continuing to demand sharp spending cuts and have rejected other ways to reduce the deficit that had been proposed by the White House. For example, the Biden administration has proposed raising revenue by closing a dozen tax loopholes.

In addition to the spending cuts, the GOP negotiators want work requirements on Medicaid health care program recipients and have introduced new cuts to food aid, the AP said. They’re also seeking to reduce funds going to the IRS and asking the White House to accept parts of their proposed immigration revamp.

The White House had agreed to maintaining defense and nondefense spending at the same level next year, which would shave $90B from the FY2024 budget and $1T over 10 years.

Still, at the Sunday press conference, Biden said, “I think we can reach an agreement,” though he couldn’t guarantee that the Republicans “wouldn’t force a default by doing something dangerous.”

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