(C) Common Dreams
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McCarthy: No deal yet, but debt limit meeting 'productive' [1]
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Date: 2023-05-22
Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he and President Joe Biden on Monday had their best meeting yet on how to lift the statutory debt limit but that “there’s nothing agreed to” in the negotiations.
McCarthy, who was joined at the White House by two of his top aides and Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, R-N.C., said negotiators were able to better explain to one another the policies they were fighting for or against, and they all agreed on the need to quickly secure a deal. The meeting lasted just over an hour.
“I think the tone tonight was better than any other time we had discussions,” the California Republican said. “I felt it was productive … I think we were able to really focus on the areas of difference.”
The top disagreements in negotiations have been over spending caps for fiscal 2024 and beyond and work requirements for low-income benefits like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
McCarthy said those matters remain unresolved and that other issues under discussion, like overhauling permitting regulations, also have yet to be hammered out. He later told reporters at the Capitol that Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., another lead negotiator for the GOP side, is an expert on the energy infrastructure permitting issue, and that whatever doesn't get agreed to in the debt limit package could move separately later.
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[1] Url:
https://rollcall.com/2023/05/22/mccarthy-no-deal-yet-but-debt-limit-meeting-productive/
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