(WASHINGTON) A public debt meeting scheduled for Friday between Joe Biden and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has been postponed “to early next week,” a White House spokesman said Thursday.
The postponement was “positive”, a source close to the discussions assured, adding that “the teams are continuing their meetings and this is not the right time to engage the leaders”.
But Republicans offered another story.
Joe Biden “doesn’t have a plan,” Kevin McCarthy said during a press conference, “obviously he doesn’t want a deal, he wants default.”
The IMF on Thursday expressed concern about the “serious consequences” for the global economy of a US default on payments unless a political deal is found very quickly.
Democrats, the US president’s camp, and Republicans, the leaders of one of the chambers of Congress, have clashed over raising the US debt ceiling, accusing each other of “holding the world’s largest economy hostage”.
This legislative maneuver is necessary for the world’s largest economy to continue borrowing and paying its bills, its officials and its creditors.
Former President Donald Trump took to the debate on Wednesday to insist Republicans, over whom he retains great influence, will “cause a default” if Democrats don’t give them “massive cuts” in spending.
Joe Biden, for his part, calls for an unconditional increase in the debt ceiling, arguing that for a long time, under the leadership of his predecessor, Congress voted in this direction without any specific debate.
The US president has already met with Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives, including Kevin McCarthy, on Tuesday to find a solution.
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