Debt ceiling impasse: McCarthy presses Biden to negotiate

By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says he’s growing increasingly concerned about President Joe Biden’s unwillingness to negotiate on lifting the nation’s borrowing authority. He says in a letter to the president dated Tuesday that the White House position “could prevent America from meeting its obligations and hold dire ramifications for the entire nation.” The White House says McCarthy and the Republicans are to blame, refusing to put forward their own budget plan before formal negotiations. The Treasury Department has resorted to “extraordinary measures” to avoid default on the nation’s $31.4 trillion borrowing authority. But those measures will run out, possibly as early as June.