White House Sees Progress on Debt Talks

Is there a reason for any optimism here? Well, certainly the Democrats are expressing optimism, including the president, Joe Biden, as he got on Air Force One today to take off an important trip. He was speaking to reporters and he said, there's discussions that are going on about changes we could all make. That sounds good because we're wondering, can the Democrats and Republicans, they seem pretty far apart on some of the key points, can they get it together? He says, he admits though we're not there yet. And why? I remain optimistic because I'm a congenital optimist, but I really think there's a desire on their part, as well as ours to reach an agreement, I think we'll be able to do it. So let's look at what is separating him when I say how far apart they are. The Republicans at this point don't want to make any concessions on spending, any concessions on taxes. And you may remember that House Majority Leader, Kevin McCarthy, had to make agreements with the most conservative, the most hard on the debt limit kind of Republicans that he is dealing with in his party.

So you can see this, Republicans, no tax increases, they don't want to increase the debt limit ceiling at all. And they want some promises that there is going to be constraints on federal spending. There's been a lot of the deficit has run up, the inflation reduction act has lost many regions with money they have to spend by 2024. Some would say they have a legitimate issue there, but the Democrats are saying, hey, we need to address these two things separately, not pass the debt limit, let's continue to the talks and we'll talk about spending then. And they want to keep every aspect of the inflation reduction act in place. So there is ground to cover. Meanwhile, we know that Janet Yellen, has the Treasury Secretary has warned over and over and over that the U.

S. could have to default on its debt payments as early as June 1st, if some agreement is not reached. She keeps saying also she doesn't really know yet in a couple of weeks, in a couple of weeks though, will almost be to June 1st. And that's when she says she may have, she will have a better idea of what the ex-date is. In other words, the debt one it absolutely is, you know, pedal to the metal, the money's running out, something has to be done. So a lot of questions still hiding optimism on the part of the Democrats. We've heard many people from the White House making these same kinds of comments.

It will be interesting to hear though, what Kevin McCarthy and his team have to say, they're gonna be meeting on Tuesday, that's the word from the White House and from the Republican side. So fingers crossed, maybe we're not hearing more details because there truly are some important discussions that are getting them closer to some kind of point where they can see the compromise that needs to be made in sight to avoid default.

Debt ceiling, Haidi Stroud-Watts, Kathleen Hays, Politics, Republicans, Shery Ahn, U.S., U.S. Congress, U.S. Government, White House, debt limit, default