试图给人一种安慰的语气尽管经过了几天的谈判美国总统乔·拜登周四下午表示，他已经与众议院议长凯文·麦卡锡进行了几次“富有成效的谈话”，他们的团队正在债务上限谈判上“取得进展”随着该国逐渐接近违约。
拜登在提名新的参谋长联席会议主席之前，在玫瑰花园发表讲话时说:“我已经多次明确表示:我们的国债违约不是一个选项。”。
但在距离潜在违约只有7天的时候，协议仍难以达成。财政部长珍妮特·耶伦坚持认为，美国政府可能在6月初耗尽现金支付所有账单，最早可能在6月1日。
众议院成员周四离开城镇参加阵亡将士纪念日周末，但被告知如果达成协议，准备返回。
“现在是国会采取行动的时候了，”拜登在玫瑰园说。“我想澄清一点:我们与麦卡锡议长的谈判是关于预算的轮廓，而不是关于违约。这是关于美国的不同愿景。”
麦卡锡周四晚些时候离开国会大厦时证实，在与白宫“来来回回”了一整天后，仍然没有达成协议。
“前进的唯一途径是两党达成一致，”他说。“我相信我们会达成一项协议，让我们继续前进，保护这个国家勤劳的美国人民。
“我们已经工作了一整天，我们将继续努力，试图解决这个问题，但没有达成协议，”他说。
他说假期周末他会在华盛顿工作。
“我认为，两个团队都有一种理解，即我们仍有严重的问题需要解决和达成协议，这需要一些时间，”共和党重要谈判代表、北卡罗来纳州众议员帕特里克·麦克亨利周四前往议长办公室前对记者说。“这就是全部了。”
麦克亨利说，当时对一些联邦援助的工作要求仍然是一个主要的症结。
2023年5月25日，乔·拜登总统在华盛顿特区白宫的玫瑰园宣布提名空军上将小查尔斯·布朗担任下一任参谋长联席会议主席。
Mandel Ngan/法新社
周四早些时候，麦卡锡告诉美国广播公司新闻资深国会记者雷切尔·斯科特，随着6月1日的到来，“每一个小时都很重要”。
这位发言人还对双方将达成解决方案表示乐观，尽管他回避了关于国会能够通过协议的时间表缩小的问题。
麦卡锡说:“昨晚我们一直工作到深夜。”。“昨天，我认为，是一个非常好的一天。我们取得了一些进展。仍然有一些悬而未决的问题，我已经指示我们的团队全天候工作，试图解决这个问题。”
麦克亨利此前在周四表示，仍有“根本性分歧”需要解决。
“什么都没有解决。什么都没解决。每个人都想认为你可以把东西锁起来存起来。你不能存任何东西，除非你真的有一笔完整的交易，”他说。
当被问及他是否有信心在本周末达成协议时，麦克亨利回答说，“我仍在努力达成协议。这看起来非常困难，因为这是我们正在处理的非常困难的课题。我不认为这是我的秘密。我不希望我们处于这种境地。”
即使达成债务上限协议，国会在本月底前通过立法也面临严重的时间紧张。在一项法案起草后，麦卡锡承诺给众议院成员72小时来审查它，这是他向今年年初阻止他投票的保守派强硬派做出的让步。然后，参议院将不得不在该法案提交给乔·拜登总统之前对其进行审议。
阵亡将士纪念日的休会让事情变得更加复杂。众议院将于周四宣布，参议院上周离开了城镇，尽管两院的领导层已经指示立法者准备好一旦达成协议就立即返回华盛顿。
几名民主党人近日对谈判的现状表示失望，众议院少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯(Hakeem Jeffries)指责麦卡锡的休会计划，并严厉指责共和党人，用他的话说，提出了“不合理的要求”
杰弗里斯在新闻发布会上说:“我的理解是，拜登总统和麦卡锡议长的指定人将继续会谈，但不幸的是，众议院共和党人选择在日落前离开这座城市。”。
他抨击共和党在债务上限问题上制造了一场“人为危机”，指责该党将经济作为人质。
他说:“共和党人正把我们推上一条违约的危险道路，或者给美国人民提出了另一个不可接受的选择，这就是对儿童的毁灭性削减，对医疗补助的毁灭性削减，对营养的毁灭性削减，对教育的毁灭性削减，对公共安全的毁灭性削减，以及对我们的退伍军人的毁灭性削减。”
华盛顿的国会进步党团领袖普拉米拉·贾亚帕尔表达了类似的担忧，他周三警告说，进步人士“不会接受伤害劳动人民的协议。”
纽约州民主党众议员贾马尔·鲍曼(Jamaal Bowman)表示，他“非常担心”拜登在谈判中让步太多。
鲍曼补充说，“我主张白宫确保我们不会放弃房子和拖欠我们的责任。”
杰弗里斯周四表示，拜登在共和党寻求的削减开支问题上“继续坚持立场”。
与此同时，保守派强硬派也要求麦卡锡坚持自己的立场。他们表示，他们正在寻求结束民主党人对政府支出的“上瘾”，他们将通胀和其他经济灾难归咎于政府支出。
“守住防线，”德克萨斯州共和党众议员奇普·罗伊说。
“这个白宫是对领导力的嘲弄。所以我们应该坚定不移地领导这个国家。我们有能力做到这一点。
随着政治的发展，信用评级机构惠誉周四警告说，它将美国信用评级置于可能降级的观察之中。
当被问及他的反应时，麦卡锡说他并不担心。
“我担心的是，说到底，如果你没有一笔对得起美国公众的交易，你应该担心惠誉。我没有，”他说。
Debt ceiling negotiators 'making progress,' Biden says even as deal remains elusive
Seeking to strike a reassuring tonedespite days of negotiations, President Joe Biden said Thursday afternoon that he's had several "productive conversations" with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and their teams are "making progress" on debt ceiling talksas the country inches closer to default.
"I've made it clear time and again: Defaulting on our national debt is not an option," Biden said as he delivered remarks in the Rose Garden before nominating a new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
But an agreement still remains elusive with just seven days until potential default. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen maintains that the U.S. government could run out of cash to pay all its bills in early June, possibly as soon as June 1.
House members left town on Thursday for Memorial Day weekend but were told to be ready to return if a deal is reached.
"It is time for Congress to act now," Biden said in the Rose Garden. "I want to be clear: The negotiations we're having with Speaker McCarthy is about the outlines of what the budget will look like, not about default. It's about competing visions for America."
Leaving the Capitol later Thursday, McCarthy confirmed that there remains no deal in hand, having been "going back and forth" with the White House all day.
"The only way to move forward is with a bipartisan agreement," he said. "And I believe that we'll come to an agreement that allows us to move forward and that protects the hardworking Americans of this country.
"We've worked throughout the day, we'll continue to work to try to be able to solve the problem but there is no agreement," he said.
He said he would be working from Washington over the holiday weekend.
"I think there's a sense of understanding from both teams that we have serious issues still to work out and come to terms with and that's gonna take some time," Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, a key Republican negotiator, told reporters before heading into the speaker's office on Thursday. "That's all there is to it."
McHenry said then that work requirements on some federal aid were still a major sticking point.
Earlier Thursday, McCarthy had told ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott that "every hour matters" as the clock ticks toward June 1.
The speaker also expressed optimism the two sides will come to a solution, though he dodged questions on the narrowing timetable for Congress to be able to pass a deal.
"We worked well past midnight last night," McCarthy said. "And yesterday, I thought, was a very good day. We made some progress. There are still some outstanding issues, and I've directed our teams to work 24/7 to try to solve this problem."
McHenry previously said Thursday that there were still "fundamental disagreements" to resolve.
"Nothing's resolved. Nothing's resolved. And everyone wants to think you can lock up and bank something. You can't bank anything until you actually have a complete deal," he said.
Asked then if he was confident a deal would be reached by this weekend, McHenry replied, "I'm still trying to work for the deal. And it looks very difficult because it's very difficult subjects that we're dealing with. I don't think there's I've made no secret about this. It's not a position I wanted us to be in."
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy speaks to reporters as he arrives at the U.S. Capitol on May 25, 2023 in Washington, D.C.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Even if a debt ceiling deal is reached, Congress faces a serious time crunch to pass legislation before the end of the month. After a bill is drafted, McCarthy's pledging to give House members 72 hours to review it, a concession he offered to conservative hardliners roadblocking his speakership vote at the start of this year. Then the Senate will have to take up the bill before it goes to President Joe Biden's desk.
Complicating the matter further is the Memorial Day recess. The House will gavel out Thursday, and the Senate left town last week, though leadership in both chambers has directed lawmakers to be prepared to return to Washington immediately if a deal is struck.
Several Democrats have voiced frustration in recent days over the status of negotiation, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., dinging McCarthy's plans to adjourn and excoriating Republicans for, in his words, making "unreasonable demands."
"It's my understanding that the designees of both President Biden as well as Speaker McCarthy will continue to talk, but it is unfortunate that House Republicans have chosen to get out of town before sundown," Jeffries said in a news conference.
He hit the GOP for a "manufactured crisis" over the debt ceiling, accusing the party of holding the economy hostage.
"Republicans are driving us down a dangerous road of default or have presented the American people with another unacceptable choice, which is devastating cuts to children, devastating cuts to Medicaid, devastating cuts to nutrition, devastating cuts to education, devastating cuts to public safety and devastating cuts to our veterans," he said.
Congressional Progressive Caucus leader Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington voiced similar concerns, warning Wednesday that progressives "are not going to take a deal that hurts working people."
Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., said he was "very concerned" that Biden was giving too much away in the negotiations.
Bowman added, "I'm advocating for the White House to ensure that we don't give away the house and default on our responsibilities."
Jeffries said Thursday that Biden "is continuing to hold the line" on the spending cuts Republicans are seeking.
Meanwhile, conservative hardliners are telling McCarthy to stand his ground, too. They say they are seeking to end Democrats' "addiction" to government spending, which they blame for inflation and other economic woes.
"Hold the line," said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas.
"This White House is a mockery of leadership. So we should hold firm and actually lead the country. And we have the ability to do that," said Rep. Bryon Donalds, R-Fla.
As the politics play out, credit rating agency Fitch warned Thursday it was putting U.S. credit rating on watch for a possible downgrade.
Pressed for his reaction, McCarthy said he wasn't concerned.
"I am concerned about, at the end of the day, if you do not have a deal worthy of the American public, you should be worried about Fitch. I'm not," he said.
