Debt ceiling negotiations stalled: lack of "reasonable conversations"

Joe Biden and Kevin McCarthy met for the first time in May to resolve the debt ceiling issue. While that meeting did not make much progress, the second one gave more positive signals pointing to an eventual agreement. That wave of optimism was quickly stalled with the president out of the country. On Friday, the negotiations were momentarily paused, as the dialogues between the parties were not productive".

One of the speaker's most important emissaries in the negotiations is Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.). In the past few days, with a more positive tone, he has been in charge of setting the dialogue on the road to a possible agreement with the White House. Optimism was cut short on Friday, May 19, when the representative announced that he plans to "press pause" on negotiations.

"We’ve decided to press pause, because it’s just not productive," he said in a press conference after leaving a meeting on Capitol Hill. "Until people are willing to have reasonable conversations about how you can actually move forward and do the right thing, we aren’t going to sit here and talk to ourselves," added the congressman, who has represented Louisiana's 6th congressional district since 2015.

His words were reinforced by a White House official, who indicated that progress had stalled in recent hours. "There are real differences between the parties on budget issues and talks will be difficult. The president’s team is working hard towards a reasonable bipartisan solution that can pass the House and the Senate," he said.

Kevin McCarthy's response: "It's pretty easy"

Speaker McCarthy arrived on Capitol Hill minutes after the negotiations had been paused. Of course, he showed his dissatisfaction with the change of course.

"Yesterday, I really felt we were at the location where I could see the path. The White House is just — look we can't be spending more money next year. We have to spend less than we spent the year before. It's pretty easy," he commented in passing.

Both parties have received some hostility from their respective extremes over what to do about the debt ceiling. Some Democrats are pushing Biden to settle everything with the 14th Amendment, a gimmick that stirs controversy over its legal practicality. On the other side of the aisle, certain Republicans oppose negotiations, since they perceive their job is done with the half-sanction of the Limit, Save and Grow Act of 2023.

The pause comes as President Biden is attending the G-7 summit, along with the leaders of Germany, Japan, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Italy. Pressure over the debt ceiling had forced the president to cut his trip short. He was scheduled to make a couple of stops in Australia and Papua New Guinea, which he had to cancel in order to "be back for final negotiations with congressional leaders."

The head of state came across this news from Hiroshima, the city where the political forum met to address two topics in particular: Ukraine and artificial intelligence.