Biden travel, Congress recess to squeeze debt limit timeline even more
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[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.
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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."
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![](../images/050223PIX/news_t8.jpg)
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
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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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