President Biden extended an invitation to Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) To negotiate about the debt limit next week, according to a source close to the matter.
The meeting will take place on May 9th and it will Mark the first time since February when the two men have met to discuss the debt limit. Biden’s invitation was also extended to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
The invitation was first reported by CNN but at the time McCarthy had not yet accepted.
Only hours before the invitations were made, treasury secretary Janet Yellen had told top lawmakers that the U.S. would hit its borrowing limit as soon as June 1. Yellen had previously remarked that the country would not hit the limit before early June.
This shift in the timeline was caused by a recent review of federal tax receipts which narrowed the timeline in which the extraordinary measure implemented when the country reached its debt limit in January could continue to satisfy the government’s obligations.
Yellen’s Monday statement is going to increase the pressure on lawmakers to reach an agreement with the White House so as to stop the U.S. from defaulting.
House Republicans have long maintained that any increase in the debt limit should be accompanied by spending cuts. The White House however has stated that the House needed to increase the limit without any spending cuts, much like they had done for his predecessors.
