US President Joe Biden and House Of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Monday both said they had a productive debt ceiling discussion at the White House, but there was no agreement as negotiators strained to raise the nation’s borrowing limit in time to avert a potentially chaotic federal default.
It is a crucial moment for the Democratic president and the Republican speaker, just 10 days before a looming deadline to raise the debt limit.
As soon as Thursday next week, US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen said in a letter to US Congress, “it is highly likely” the government would be unable to pay all the nation’s bills.
Photo: AFP
Such an unprecedented default would be financially damaging for many Americans and others around the world relying on US stability, sending shock waves through the global economy.
Each side praised the other’s seriousness, but basic differences remained. They are at odds over how to trim annual budget deficits.
Republicans are determined to cut spending, while Biden’s team offered to hold spending levels flat. Biden wants to increase some taxes on the wealthiest Americans and some big companies, but McCarthy said early on that is out of the question.
“The time of spending, just spending more money in America and government is wrong,” McCarthy said after the Oval Office meeting.
In a brief post-meeting statement, Biden called the session productive, but merely added that he, McCarthy and their lead negotiators “will continue to discuss the path forward.”
Upbeat, McCarthy said their teams would work “through the night.”
Biden said all agreed that “default is not really on the table.”
Although there is no agreement on basic issues, the contours of a deal seem within reach. A budget deal would unlock a separate vote to lift the debt ceiling, now US$31 trillion, to allow more borrowing.
Negotiations are focused on finding a compromise over a budget year cap next year that would be key to resolving the standoff. Republicans insisted next year’s spending be less than it is now, but the White House instead offered to hold spending flat at this year’s numbers.
Republicans initially sought to roll back next year’s spending to last year’s levels and impose a 1 percent cap on spending growth for 10 years, though a later proposal narrowed that to about six years.
The White House wants a two-year budget deal, keeping next year’s spending flat. It proposed a 1 percent cap on spending growth for 2025, according to a person familiar with the talks and granted anonymity to discuss them.
A compromise on those top-line spending levels would enable McCarthy to deliver for conservatives, while not being so severe that it would chase off the Democratic votes that would be needed in the divided US Congress to pass any bill.
“We’re going to find a baseline that we agree to that will be less than what we spent this year,” McCarthy said at the Capitol.
Time is getting short.
The House speaker promised lawmakers he would abide by the rule to post any bill for 72 hours before voting, making any action doubtful until the end of the week — just days before the potential deadline. The US Senate would also have to pass the package before it could go to Biden’s desk to be signed into law.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary