Kevin McCarthy, Joe Biden Negotiations May Be Nearing Breakthrough

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Monday afternoon said negotiations with President Joe Biden to raise the debt ceiling and avoid default are "on the right path."

McCarthy and Biden have been locked into negotiations for weeks to reach a deal on the looming debt ceiling crisis. The United States risks defaulting on its obligations for the first time in history if Congress fails to raise the $31.4 billion debt limit. The U.S. Treasury has warned it could run out of money to pay back these obligations by June 1, and economic analysts say a default would cause a widespread economic downturn.

As a potential default looms, tense negotiations in Washington have stalled as Republicans push for spending cuts opposed by Biden and other Democrats. A deal would need to pass both the GOP-controlled House and Democratic-controlled Senate, requiring some degree of bipartisan support.

McCarthy said an agreement could be reached early this week, while also expressing urgency that a deal is reached quickly so it has enough time to pass through both the House and Senate before June 1, in remarks to reporters leading up to his meeting with the president.

He told reporters he believes negotiations are "on the right path," ahead of the 5:30 p.m. meeting, Reuters reported.

His remarks followed negotiating representatives at a meeting of House Republicans and the Biden administration for more than two hours earlier in the day after a weekend that saw the president and McCarthy point fingers at each other over the crisis.

"I think we can, we can get a deal tonight. We can get a deal tomorrow but you've got to get something done this week to be able to pass it and move it to the Senate," McCarthy said, according to CNN.

Newsweek has reached out via email to the White House for comment.

Christopher Howard, professor of government and public policy at the College of William & Mary, told Newsweek Monday afternoon that negotiations have been so difficult in part because Republican lawmakers "care more about politics than policy."

"The same Republicans who claim to care about the debt today did not care about it a few years ago when Trump was president, and they readily agreed to raise the debt ceiling," he wrote. "Making any serious headway on the debt is almost impossible when Republicans rule out tax increases, cuts to defense spending, and cuts to Medicare, and some House Republicans have primarily been interested in manufacturing a crisis in order to make Biden look bad."

He added that Democrats will be "unhappy if spending is cut in order to raise the debt ceiling," particularly pointing to their opposition of more stringent work requirements being added to safety net programs, a significant goal for Republicans in negotiations.

McCarthy's tone was notably more optimistic than last week, when he said negotiations stalled amid "frustration" among Republicans.

"We took a pause because of the frustration," McCarthy said during a Fox Business interview Friday. "This White House will not acknowledge that they've been spending too much. I've been very clear about where this needs to go."