Biden, McCarthy hold 'productive' meeting, but no agreement on debt limit

WASHINGTON

US President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy held a "productive" meeting at the White House on Monday to discuss the debt limit, but no agreement was reached ahead of a June 1 deadline set by the US Treasury.

“I just concluded a productive meeting with Speaker McCarthy about the need to prevent default and avoid a catastrophe for our economy,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House.

“We reiterated once again that default is off the table and the only way to move forward is in good faith toward a bipartisan agreement,” he added.

Noting that there are “areas of disagreement,” Biden said that he and McCarthy and negotiators will continue to discuss “the path forward”

“I felt we had a productive discussion. We don’t have an agreement yet, but I did feel the discussion was productive in areas that we have differences of opinion,” McCarthy told reporters after the meeting at the Oval Office.

“We're going to have the staffs continue to get back together and work based on some of the things that we had talked about," he added.

He said the tone of the meeting with Biden was "better than any other time we’ve had discussions."

Biden told reporters ahead of the critical meeting with McCarthy that he was "optimistic we’re going to make some progress" to reach a deal to avoid a default on the nation's debt.

He said that both sides talked about the "need for a bipartisan agreement,” adding: "We have to be in a position where we can sell it to our constituencies."

“We’re pretty well divided in the House, almost down the middle, and it’s not that different in the Senate, so we’ve got to get something we can sell to both sides," he added.

The meeting came 10 days before a looming default deadline as negotiations continue over raising the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, or the amount the US is legally allowed to borrow.