White House reporter, Alex Gangitano, discussed the ongoing debt ceiling standoff in Washington during an interview with CBS News’ Lilia Luciano and Tony Dokoupil.
The discussions are continuing as Republicans work to reach a deal on raising the debt ceiling.
Congressional leaders are scheduled to meet again tomorrow to address the issue.
The next meeting was initially planned for Friday but was rescheduled, while negotiations between staffers are ongoing.
There are differing accounts regarding the progress of the talks.
The White House describes the conversations as constructive, with President Biden expressing optimism that both sides want to reach a resolution.
However, Speaker McCarthy accuses Democrats of prioritizing a default over a deal and believes the meetings lack seriousness in terms of spending caps and Republican-approved methods to raise the debt limit.
He accuses the White House of standing firm and expresses the need for discussions on spending cuts.
The negotiations have reached a stage where each side questions the motives of the other, making it uncertain where the resolution stands.
The deadline seems to be Wednesday evening, despite previous mentions of June 1st.
President Biden is scheduled to depart for Japan on Wednesday evening, which puts pressure on making progress in the upcoming meeting.
If no significant headway is made, the President might have to consider postponing the trip or urging the staffers to take negotiations seriously.
Vice President Harris could also become involved if necessary.
However, it is unlikely that President Biden would postpone the trip due to its significance on the global stage.
With Congress heading for recess and the deadline approaching, progress needs to be made in the next few days.
Currently, it appears that little progress is being achieved.
The President had previously mentioned using the 14th Amendment as leverage to act unilaterally.
If he publicly quotes that again, there might be a possibility of him doing so during tomorrow’s meeting.
Such a move could change the dynamics of the negotiations, although President Biden would prefer not to resort to that option.
