Biden travel, Congress recess to squeeze debt limit timeline even more

[May 02, 2023]  By Trevor Hunnicutt and David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For months, the U.S. crisis over the debt limit has been a political abstraction. Not anymore.

The U.S. Treasury's new June 1 estimated deadline for Congress to raise the debt ceiling or risk default has ratcheted up the heat on Washington's lawmakers to avert an economic crisis.

If the U.S. government is set to run out of money to pay some of its bills by then, U.S. President Joe Biden and Republicans may have just seven working days to craft a deal.

That's the length of time in which the House, Senate and the president are all physically in Washington, D.C. in May.

The next time Biden and his House and Senate colleagues are all scheduled to be in Washington is Tuesday, May 9. Not coincidentally, that's when Biden has invited Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican leader Mitch McConnell to the White House to discuss the issue.

There, Biden plans to "stress that Congress must take action to avoid default without conditions," a White House official said. Biden and McCarthy haven't sat down to discuss the issue since February.

The House will have four day weeks the week of May 15 and 22, taking Fridays off. Then, the House is out of Washington the week of May 29, returning June 5. The Senate will be out from May 22 to 29 for a state work period.

"There is very little time on the legislative calendar to reach a deal," wrote Goldman Sachs Group Inc analyst Alec Phillips in a note to clients. "The next few weeks are going to be unpredictable."

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks marking National Small Business Week during an event in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, U.S., May 1, 2023. REUTERS/Leah Millis

Although there is plenty of precedent for Congress's scheduled state work visits to be changed, Biden's May travel schedule is less flexible.

The Group of Seven leaders' meeting in Hiroshima, which the White House says Biden is attending, starts May 19, and he'll need to leave earlier than that to reach it in time. After that ends on May 21, he will attend the May 24 meeting of the Quad Leaders’ Summit in Sydney, Australia, the White House said.

While plenty is negotiated in Washington by Zoom, text or over the phone, touchy political compromises are still typically the province of in-room dealmaking.

Congress could add more days in Washington. Late on Monday, Schumer worked to fast-track a "clean" two-year debt limit suspension, so that it can come more quickly to the Senate floor for a vote.

But the parties remain far apart. House Republicans passed a bill to raise the debt limit last week that includes steep spending cuts from healthcare for the poor to air-traffic controllers, which the Democratic-controlled Senate say they will not approve.

Biden has steadfastly said he will not negotiate over the debt ceiling increase, but will discuss budget cuts after a new limit is passed. A White House official said his position would not change by next week.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and David Morgan; Editing by Heather Timmons and Gerry Doyle)

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