Representatives for President Joe Biden and congressional Republicans ended another round of debt ceiling talks on Tuesday with no sign of progress, days before the deadline to raise the government’s borrowing limit to 31.4 trillions of dollars, or run the risk of bankruptcy.
Both parties remain deeply divided on how to curb the federal deficit, with Democrats arguing that wealthy Americans and corporations should pay more taxes, while Republicans they want spending cuts.
The negotiators met for about two hours and left without making any substantive comment to the media.
“We had very good discussions,” House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters.
The Treasury Department has warned that the federal government may no longer have enough money to pay all its bills. from June 1triggering a default that would hit the US economy and drive up borrowing costs.
The parts they still disagree on spending and it’s unclear when talks will resume, said Republican Patrick McHenry, who chairs the House Finance Committee.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre called the talks “incredibly tough.”
“Both parties have to understand that they are not going to get everything they want,” Jean-Pierre said. “And we’re trying to come up with a budget that’s reasonable, that’s bipartisan, that House and Senate Democrats and Republicans can vote on and agree with.”
The lack of clear progress continued to weigh on Wall Street, with stocks falling sharply and world markets on edge.
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