Debt Limit

House Republicans still don’t have a deal with President Joe Biden to raise the nation’s debt ceiling a little more than a week away from a potentially catastrophic default. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says negotiators are working to “finish the job” and seal a deal before the country runs out of cash to pay its bills. Republicans worked through the night with the White House to find agreement on spending cuts that GOP lawmakers have demanded in exchange for raising the debt limit and avoiding default. McCarthy says he doesn't know when they will finalize the details of a deal.

President Joe Biden has made a deliberate decision to go quiet as his team gets down to the wire in the debt-limit talks, according to White House officials. It’s his view that speaking in public about negotiations does nothing to produce an outcome. The already voluble House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, by contrast, is especially chatty these days, as he aggressively tries to set the terms of the public debate. He's spoken with journalists at least a dozen times this week. Biden addressed the issue briefly on Thursday but has mostly stayed out of the spotlight.