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| Debt ceiling negotiations between the White House and Republicans have made little progress. (Source: CNN) |
White House negotiators, including Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young and White House Counselor Steve Ricchetti, met with Republican representatives for two hours, but then left without leaving significant comments to the media.
The two sides remain deeply divided over how to narrow the federal budget deficit, with Democrats arguing that high-income earners and businesses should pay more in taxes, while Republicans want to cut spending.
Democrats want to freeze spending for fiscal year 2024, which begins in October 2023, at the level that was in place in 2023, arguing that doing so would amount to spending cuts because agency budgets would not keep pace with inflation.
But the idea has been opposed by Republicans, who want clear spending cuts.
In addition, President Joe Biden wants to reduce the budget deficit by raising taxes on the wealthy and closing tax loopholes for the oil and pharmaceutical industries.
But US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy did not agree to raise taxes.
Meanwhile, responding to reporters on May 23 when commenting on the disagreement between US President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: "We are still paying our bills, we have never been in a state of default in history and never will be."
The US Treasury Department said its cash balance as of May 22 was $68.34 billion, compared with $60.66 billion on May 19 and $87.43 billion a week earlier.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen asserted that the Treasury could run short of cash and borrow resources to pay all of the government's bills as soon as June 1 without Congress having to act to raise the debt ceiling.
In a letter to Congress, the Treasury Department warned that as early as June 1, the US may no longer be able to fully meet its debt obligations if lawmakers do not allow an increase in the borrowing limit at that time.
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