Joe Biden says debt ceiling talks are “moving forward” as the deadline nears

Joe Biden claimed White House officials were “making progress” in budget talks with Republicans to avoid a damaging debt settlement, even as time was running out to strike any deal before the administration ran out of money to pay for it all invoices. next week.

At the event held in the Rose Garden of the White House on Thursday afternoon, the American president struck a relatively cheerful note when he gave information about the negotiations aimed at overcoming the budget crisis affecting Washington.

“Speaker [Kevin] McCarthy and I have had several productive conversations, and our staff continues to meet as we speak, as a matter of fact — and they are moving forward,” Biden said. “I believe we will reach an agreement that will allow us to move forward and protect hardworking Americans across the country.”

His comments came a day after credit rating agency Fitch warned it could downgrade the U.S.’s triple-A rating due to “delinquency” over the U.S. debt limit, amid growing concerns that its absence could lead to increased financial stress in the coming days . about a compromise.

Both Biden and McCarthy, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, called on the rank and file of their parties not to give up concessions in the final stages of negotiations.

Earlier on Thursday, McCarthy spoke by phone with former President Donald Trump, who called on Republicans to accept bankruptcy if Biden did not agree to deep spending cuts. He then gathered in his office with top Republicans. “Every hour counts,” McCarthy told ABC News.

House members are headed home for the long Memorial Day weekend, but have been told they will have to return to Washington shortly.

The US Treasury has warned that the world’s largest economy could run out of money to pay all its bills as early as June 1, risking a first default on the national debt.

According to congressional staff, the road to an agreement being reached in both chambers of the legislature and for Biden to sign it in time is getting narrower. “The hourglass has almost run out on a potential debt ceiling deal,” Chris Krueger, an analyst with TD Cowen’s Washington Research Group, wrote on Thursday.

He said that if an agreement is reached by Friday, the bill can be adopted by the House of Representatives on Tuesday at the earliest, and then the Senate will discuss it in an accelerated procedure the next day.

“This schedule is definitely optimistic and assumes a very high level of execution skills, everything will fall into place,” he added.

Business groups in Washington have urged both sides to reach a compromise as quickly as possible to avoid a potentially devastating economic and financial blow.

“It’s going to get very hairy if we don’t get a deal in the next 24 hours,” said Neil Bradley, policy director at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “We are in the window where things should go well.”

At an event organized by the Investment Company Institute earlier in the day, Wally Adeyemo, the Deputy Minister of Finance, expressed his regret that the job loss went to the wire.

“I think everyone’s goal is to raise the debt limit. But the most important thing, as you all know in this room [and] what Americans know is that we shouldn’t be here,” he said. “This is an artificial crisis.”