McCarthy agrees to speak with Biden on debt ceiling: Report

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has accepted an invitation from President Joe Biden to meet to discuss the debt ceiling after the Treasury Department announced the country could default on its loans as early as June 1.

The biggest step yet in the debt ceiling standoff between Biden and House Republicans will take place on May 9. McCarthy spoke with Biden and accepted his invitation for next week, a source familiar with the situation confirmed to the Washington Examiner, setting the stage for the pair to meet about the debt ceiling for the first time since Feb. 1. McCarthy’s acceptance comes after Biden called the “Big Four” — that is, McCarthy, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — on Monday afternoon to schedule the meeting.

BIDEN INCHES CLOSER TO TALKING TO REPUBLICANS ABOUT DEBT CEILING IMPASSE

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen indicated in a letter to McCarthy and other congressional leaders that the United States would risk default absent a debt ceiling increase as early as June 1. This means that Biden and the Capitol Hill leaders may have less time to reach a deal and resolve the crisis than anticipated.

McCarthy’s House has passed, however narrowly, a set of spending cuts paired with a debt limit extension of $1.5 trillion or until March 31, 2024, whichever comes first. Senate Democrats have called those proposals “dead on arrival” in the upper chamber, but the GOP gambit succeeded in the House sooner than many expected.

Meanwhile, the White House has remained adamant it would not negotiate on the debt ceiling, calling for a clean increase that is not tied to the federal budget. It’s possible Biden will maintain that stance when he meets with McCarthy next week, keeping the two at an impasse as the clock keeps ticking.

The U.S. hit its debt ceiling on Jan. 19, prompting Yellen to instruct her agency to take “extraordinary measures” to prevent the country from defaulting on its obligations. However, Yellen announced a hard deadline of June 1 on Monday, on which the department may exhaust those measures and become unable to complete the country’s payments.

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Biden is eager to avoid a default and steer the economy into strong waters ahead of his reelection campaign in 2024, while McCarthy will be working hard to maintain his speakership.