McCarthy: GOP Not Close To Debt Limit Deal With White House

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters that he is not close to striking a deal to lift the debt ceiling with the White House following a closed-door meeting with House Republicans Tuesday morning.

“We met again last night. We are not there yet,” McCarthy said of talks with the White House. President Joe Biden, McCarthy and their teams met Monday at the White House, followed later in the evening by another meeting on Capitol Hill between each sides' negotiators.

The White House and lawmakers are in a race to reach an agreement to raise the debt ceiling by June 1, when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has repeatedly warned the U.S. may not be able to may its bills.

McCarthy said Tuesday it was still possible for the two sides to reach a deal by the June 1 deadline.

Biden and McCarthy both called their Monday meeting "productive," though the 90-minute session did not lead to any major breakthroughs.

Republicans have demanded that the White House and Democrats agree to spending cuts before raising the debt ceiling. The White House has balked at proposals for spending cuts.

Meanwhile, top House Democrats railed against Republicans for their demands, saying the GOP was toying with a “national catastrophe.”

“It shouldn’t take a wave of grassroots action to avert a national catastrophe,” Rep. Katherine Clarke (D-Mass.), the House Democratic whip, said outside the Capitol on Tuesday. “The MAGA majority wants the American people to make an impossible choice: accept devastating cuts or a devastating default.”

Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said Republicans did not have enough votes on their side for a proposal to reduce spending.

“They don’t have the votes in their own conference to support this spending plan, because it doesn’t go far enough” Aguilar said.

As negotiations dragged on, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) attempted to strike an optimistic note.

"I think everybody needs to relax," McConnell told reporters in Kentucky on Tuesday. "This is not that unusual. It is almost entirely required when you have divided government."