US President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that he and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) were closer to a deal addressing the debt ceiling limit, the deadline for which is threatening the US with a debt default.
The pair seemed to be nearing an agreement to raise the government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, a pattern which has persisted with the US government through the last 82 years at least 100 times.
While Republicans would prefer to slash costs in the deal—including increased wait times for Social Security, and a decrease to the number of teacher, police, and border control agents—Democrats are firmly denying such major cuts to most domestic programs. According to sources familiar with the matter, the two parties are now just $70 billion apart on discretionary spending.
“Speaker McCarthy and I have a very different view of who should bear the burden of additional efforts to get our fiscal house in order. I don’t believe the whole burden should fall on the backs of middle-class and working-class Americans, my House Republican friends disagree,” Biden said in a Thursday address.
“Instead, Republicans passed a bill that would make huge cuts in important programs that millions of middle-class and working-class Americans count on.”
“I won’t agree to that, I put forward a proposal that will cut spending by more than $1 trillion that freezes spending for the next two years,” the president added in his statement. “I proposed making the wealthy begin to pay their share, which will reduce the deficit, but it won’t cut programs for hard working Americans.”
Any agreement which is made will have to go through the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and the Democratic-majority Senate. Both sides have voiced their dissatisfaction with the deal, which could prolong its work in progress as the US nears its June 1 deadline.
"I don't think everybody's going to be happy at the end of the day. That's not how the system works," McCarthy earlier told reporters.
“We’ve been talking to the White House all day, we’ve been going back and forth, and it’s not easy,” McCarthy added. “It takes a while to make it happen, and we are working hard to make it happen.
The House broke for a weeklong break on Thursday, however, lawmakers have been told to be prepared for a call back to Washington, DC, to vote if a deal is finally drafted. The deal, which only sets wide spending outlines, leaves key details for lawmakers to work on in the coming months.