WASHINGTON — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy called on Democrats to engage in talks with Republicans over a fiscal plan including an increase in the federal debt limit, while the White House reiterated its rejection of such negotiations, highlighting the risk of a market-rattling battle over the ceiling later this year.
“I would like to sit down with all the leaders and especially the president and start having discussions,” McCarthy said Tuesday at the Capitol. He noted the government is about six months away from running out of cash. “Who wants to put the nation through some type of threat at the last minute with the debt ceiling? Nobody wants to do that.”
Republicans now in control of the House have been demanding deep spending cuts as the price for an increase in the statutory ceiling on federal debt. President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats demand the limit to be raised without conditions — a message reiterated hours after McCarthy spoke.
