Biden, McCarthy meet for high stakes debt showdown

— President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met face-toface Wednesday for more than an hour of highly anticipated budget talks — “a good first meeting,” the new Republican leader said — but expectations were low for quick progress as GOP lawmakers push for steep cuts in a deal to prevent a national debt limit crisis.

Biden has resisted direct spending negotiations linked to vital action raising the nation’s legal debt ceiling, warning against potentially throwing the economy into chaos.

McCarthy had all but invited himself to the White House to start the conversation before a summer debt deadline. And he emerged saying the meeting went better than expected: The two agreed to meet again, and the speaker said he expected to hear from Biden soon.

“No agreement, no promises except we will continue this conversation,” McCarthy told reporters outside the White House.

He said he told the president he would not raise the debt ceiling without concessions from Democrats.

“I was very clear,” he said. “We’re not spending more next year than we spent this year.”

And Biden’s response? McCarthy said the president insisted on a “clean debt ceiling” vote without the budget cuts Republicans are demanding. “We both have different perspectives on this, but I thought this was a good meeting,” McCarthy said.

The White House said the president and the speaker agreed to continue the conversation. The president made clear that it is their “shared duty” to not allow a “catastrophic default,” the White House said.

The House speaker arrived for the afternoon session carrying no formal GOP budget proposal, but he is laden with the promises he made to far-right and other conservative Republican lawmakers during his difficult campaign to become House speaker. He vowed then to work to return federal spending to 2022 levels — an 8 percent reduction. He also promised to take steps to balance the budget within the decade — an ambitious, if politically unattainable goal.