11:41 am ET, May 26, 2023
McCarthy says negotiators have made progress last night but admits now is a “crunch time”.
From CNN’s Lauren Fox, Morgan Rimmer, Christine Wilson and Haley Talbot
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said his team and the White House made progress last night on a debt ceiling deal and hoped to do more today to avoid a possible default.
“I thought we made progress last night. Now we have to make more progress,” he said. “We’re going to work as hard as we can to get this done, and I’m going to make a lot of progress today and get the job done. I’m an absolute believer.”
Asked if a deal could come together today, McCarthy stressed that negotiators are working as hard as they can and that time is of the essence.
“We know this is a critical time. We know it’s not going to be easy, but we’re going to make sure we’re not trying to get a deal. We’re trying to get something the American people deserve that changes course,” McCarthy said. “So we’re going to work hard; we worked all night long. I thought we made progress yesterday. I want to make progress again today and be able to solve this problem.”
McCarthy dismissed the level of concern among some conservatives, saying they were engaged in compromise.
“You’re talking to people who don’t know what’s in this deal. So I’m not worried about anybody making any comments right now about what they think or not,” he said. “Whenever we come to an agreement, we make sure to brief our entire conference first. So when you go and ask them questions, let them know what’s in it before you try to get an answer.”
Pressure if Republicans still insist Job requirementsHe said they looked like Biden supported in the past. He would not elaborate on the contours or specifics of that fight.
“I’m not going to negotiate with you. We’re working in good faith. Whoever the president has appointed to work on this, they’re very professional, very knowledgeable, very respectful on both sides, but sometimes, we have ideological differences that should reflect the president’s opinion,” McCarthy said. . “As you’ve seen before, the president and the Democrats here have shifted their position to where the Democrats were in the past when Sen. Biden voted for jobs requirements.”
He noted that he had not spoken directly with Biden in the past 24 hours, but that their teams remained in constant contact.
What a key negotiator says: In a markedly different tone than McCarthy, Rep. Garrett Graves warned that they had made no progress after leaving the Speaker’s office at 7:30 pm ET last night.
He said he worked with the team for a while last night and commented on the food they ate. He did not elaborate further on the details including job requirements.
McCarthy said he met with Graves on the bike this morning to talk more about the status of negotiations.
