May 23, 2023 Latest on debt ceiling negotiations

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy left the Capitol Tuesday and told reporters that he does not expect a debt ceiling deal to come through.

“I don’t think we’ll get one today," he said.

Earlier, GOP Rep. Patrick McHenry, one of the chief Republican negotiators on the debt limit, told CNN that there are no plans for more meetings with the White House negotiators Tuesday.

“There’s nothing scheduled at this point,” he said. 

However, he noted that is just the plan “right now,” and said he’s been out of the office for about an hour and a half — so this could change. 

Sixty percent of Americans say Congress should only raise the nation’s debt ceiling if it cuts spending at the same time, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS.

The poll comes as the June 1 “hard deadline” is fast approaching and lawmakers continue to negotiate to avoid economic catastrophe.

Few see President Joe Biden or the Republicans in Congress as acting responsibly in negotiations over the debt limit, with most in both parties more concerned that their side will give up too much than that the United States will default on its debt.

Still, a broad majority of Americans favor raising the debt ceiling — 84%, with just 15% saying Congress should not do so under any circumstances.

Besides the 60% who support raising the ceiling alongside spending cuts, 24% say it should happen no matter what.

These findings come amid widespread doubts about the nation’s political leaders more broadly.

Few Americans say that Biden (31%) or the Republican leaders in the House of Representatives (29%) have the right priorities. Among independents, 60% say that neither Biden nor GOP leaders are paying enough attention to the country’s most pressing problems.

Though 71% of all Americans say that not raising the debt limit would cause a crisis or major problems for the country — and many foresee a major negative impact on the stock market (60%), the nation’s credit rating (59%) and the overall economy (58%) — relatively few see a deeply negative impact on their own finances as a likely outcome (35%).

Less than half say that failure to raise the debt ceiling would cause a major negative impact on the unemployment rate (43%).

About half of Americans say they have been following the negotiations over the debt limit very (14%) or somewhat closely (36%) — below the 70% who said they were following very or somewhat closely in 2011, when President Barack Obama and Republicans in Congress were negotiating a debt ceiling increase.

Majority support for raising the debt ceiling in some fashion cuts across party lines, but most Republicans (79%) and independents (58%) say the limit should only be raised if spending cuts are enacted at the same time, while Democrats are split between supporting a debt ceiling increase no matter what (46%) and raising it only alongside spending cuts (45%).

More about the poll: The CNN Poll was conducted by SSRS from May 17-20 among a random national sample of 1,227 adults drawn from a probability-based panel. Surveys were either conducted online or by telephone with a live interviewer. Results among the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.7 points; it is larger for subgroups.

Keep reading about the poll's findings here.

CNN’s Ariel Edwards-Levy contributed reporting to this post.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said it was “ridiculous” to claim that the Biden administration has lacked urgency in addressing the debt limit — pushing back against comments from one of the lead House GOP negotiators.

During a news conference on Capitol Hill — after Monday's Oval Office meeting with President Joe Biden — Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry, a chief negotiator in debt limit talks, called the negotiations “challenging.”

He said while “it was productive to have everyone on the same page of the challenges that we have to coming to terms with the deal, what I sense from the White House from is a lack of urgency.”

Jean-Pierre reiterated that the Oval Office meeting was “productive,” later adding that negotiators for the White House “met for hours, and so they're going to be returning and clearly give the president an update.” 

The press secretary declined to say whether Biden planned to speak with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy later today. 

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy indicated Tuesday that Republicans are unwilling to make any more concessions in the high-stakes debt ceiling negotiations with the White House.

Pressed on whether that is his only concession, McCarthy said: “Everything we’re going to do is going to make America stronger.”

On a potential freeze on current levels of spending, a compromise that some Democrats have been pushing for, the speaker questioned why Democrats are offering that now. 

He noted the House had passed a bill that raises the debt ceiling.

And he added: “The Senate hasn't done anything. And so we're sitting communicating, working together, and they're just now coming up with the idea of freeze. They didn't want to negotiate for 100 days.”

Some background: In April, House Republicans passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling paired with nonspecific requirements for spending cuts, to undo climate change-related spending championed by Democrats and to impose new federal work requirements for Medicaid recipients, among other things.

The one-sided bill was a nonstarter for Democrats, who ignored it in the Senate. 

Key GOP negotiator Patrick McHenry refused to say whether the White House and Republicans have discussed a short-term bill to raise or suspend the debt limit in the event a deal cannot be reached by the deadline for a potential government default. He argued, however, that there are "technical challenges" to doing that.

The North Carolina Republican, who serves as chair of the House Financial Services committee, also would not say whether such a move is off the table, but told reporters, "The treasuries market is quite different, and our technical ability to do a short bridge is quite limited."  

McHenry said the main sticking point in debt limit negotiations continues to center on spending cuts, calling it "a fundamental disagreement between the two parties."

He also argued that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden have built a "productive" relationship over the course of negotiations, and he thinks the talks should be left to the two of them to hash out.

McHenry told reporters the key disagreements they're still working out, apart from spending cuts, are on work requirements, taxes and pharma.

If the United States defaults on its debt, that would raise questions about the safety and viability of US Treasuries. However, an analysis released by the Atlantic Council on Tuesday says investors may actually buy more US Treasuries.

That's because there isn't any viable alternative.

The Atlantic Council's analysis argues that other government securities markets aren't large enough to provide a safe haven for investors.

The amount of outstanding US Treasuries exceeded $25 trillion in the third quarter last year, a government securities market about as large as those of the rest of the G7 countries and China combined.

In the event of a US default, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen might be able to calm investors of Treasuries "by promising to continue to pay interest on debt even as other bills go unpaid," Lipsky wrote.

But that would not be a solution at all, he added.

Republican Rep. Garret Graves, who has served as a chief negotiator during debt ceiling talks, said meetings will continue with the White House team throughout the day.

He added that no scheduled meetings have been set between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. 

But, he says, large differences remain, even as the timeline grows shorter. 

“Look, there are some big bright red lines on both sides. We do not have any of those issues closed out. And you've seen some folks that have indicated that some of these issues cannot be included. I'll tell you that that’s not what I'm operating under and that everything's on the table, and we're gonna keep negotiating until there's a deal that makes sense and meets the speaker’s parameters," he said.

Asked if there is general agreement on cuts, he said: “No, that's our biggest gap.”

Graves said that the biggest gap is about numbers. "My interpretation of their position is that they fail to recognize, or fail to accede to the fact that we are on a spending trajectory right now that is absolutely unsustainable.” 

While Republicans have said they want to keep as much of their debt ceiling bill intact as possible and hold on to as many Republican members as possible, he said they still have to take the Democratic-majority Senate and Democratic president into account. 

“Look, my objective is to get as many votes as we can, period. I think that's really important," the key GOP negotiator said.

White House negotiators have left the Capitol building, after meeting for a little over two hours with House Republican negotiators. 

Asked if they'd be back later tonight, Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Shalanda Young replied, "that's a good one."

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy appeared optimistic about the possibility of a deal on the debt ceiling with President Joe Biden. 

Asked if he thought that a deal — in principle — could be reached today, McCarthy responded, “Always possible, I am optimistic.” 

He added, "I believe in life you don’t give up … we are working together now, we are finally meeting." 

McCarthy has not spoken to Biden since their meeting Monday but said that the negotiating teams are getting together. He said that he is not scheduled to go to the White House today.

The speaker also said he would talk to Biden on the phone if they do not meet in person.

McCarthy reiterated his opposition to a spending freeze, a compromise that some Democrats are pushing for. 

“We are not putting anything on the floor that doesn’t spend less than we spent this year,” McCarthy said.