U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks to the media as he leaves a debt ceiling meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden on the White House in Washington, D.C., May 22, 2023.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
WASHINGTON – A big group of House Republicans raised questions on Tuesday as as to whether the Treasury Department’s June 1 deadline to avoid a possible U.S. debt default was accurate.
“We might prefer to see more transparency on how they’re attending to that date,” House Majority Leader Representative Steve Scalise told a news conference on Tuesday.
Scalise also said he believed Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s recent comments, published on Monday, “suggested it was June 1 or later, which supplies some openness to the concept June 1 will not be the so-called X-date.”
![Lawmakers are making 'the mistake of gambling' with the debt ceiling, says former treasury minister Jacek Lew](https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/107245343-16848547621684854759-29579865188-1080pnbcnews.jpg?v=1684856334&w=750&h=422&vtcrop=y)
Yellen released a recent letter to congressional leaders on Monday that looked as if it would say the other of what Scalise had claimed, specifically omitting a line from a previous letter about how emergency measures could buy america more time to avoid debt defaults.
“We have not really been capable of see much transparency, but it surely looks like they’re now hedging and opening the door to tug back that date,” Scalise said.
A spokesman for the Treasury Department declined to comment.
The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, in the middle, addresses the media as he arrives on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, May 23, 2023.
Nathan Howard | Bloomberg | Getty Images
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy didn’t query Yellen’s timetable, and on Tuesday his office confirmed in a recent communiqué that the deadline for talks is June 1. “President Biden now only has 9 days to go turn out to be serious and enter right into a responsible agreement to instantly raise the debt limit.
On Capitol Hill, debt ceiling negotiators were preparing to narrow their focus to a smaller set of key issues that were able to compromise, an encouraging development just nine days before the US faced the grave risk of a potentially catastrophic sovereign debt default.
“We’re getting closer,” McCarthy told reporters late Monday, adding that the “circle” of problems is getting “smaller, smaller, smaller.”
Issues that continued to be discussed on Tuesday included energy permit reforms, recent labor requirements for some types of federal aid, and the redistribution of unused Covid-19 emergency funds.
“Health savings” are also on the table, CNBC reported Monday, which could include reforms to how much the federal government pays health care firms under several major federal medical insurance plans.
McCarthy met with President Joe Biden on Monday afternoon, a face-to-face meeting that either side described as “productive” but which didn’t raise the debt ceiling that financial markets and global investors are hoping for.
Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (C) speaks in the course of the Courage for America press conference on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., May 23, 2023. Courage for America blames far-right House of Representatives for the default.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
House representatives held their weekly conference call on Tuesday morning, where McCarthy reportedly said they were “not near a deal” and urged the club to stay together and support the deal it should eventually reach.
“Lower than 10 days from default, Joe Biden has yet to supply or accept our reasonable solution to boost the debt ceiling and solve our debt crisis,” Elise Stefanik, president of the Republican Party’s House Conference of Representatives, said Tuesday Elise Stefanik of Latest York .
Republican negotiator, Congressman Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, told reporters that spending was still the largest obstacle to a deal.
Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., left, and Rep. Patrick McHenry, RNC, seek advice from reporters about overdraft negotiations as they leave the House Republican Caucus meeting on the Capitol Hill Club in Washington, D.C. Tuesday, May 23, 2023.
Bill Clark | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
“The key issue here is expenses. It is not in regards to the game,” McHenry said Tuesday outside the Republican National Committee headquarters. “It’s about us getting the deal done before the deadline, which matches the marshal’s message that we will spend less money next yr than we’re spending now.”
Biden hopes to succeed in a debt ceiling agreement that might push the following deadline beyond the 2024 presidential election. But House Republicans, who’ve only backed a one-year hike thus far, say if Biden wants more time, he’ll must conform to much more cuts.
That is an evolving story. Check for updates.