WASHINGTON — House and Senate lawmakers left Capitol Hill this week without reaching an agreement on how to avoid a catastrophic debt default. But facing a deadline that is just three weeks away, some said they are beginning to see small signs of progress.

A Friday meeting between President Joe Biden and the four congressional leaders has been postponed until next week to allow their top advisers to make further progress before bringing back top negotiators, who met for the first time on Tuesday.

And lawmakers and advisers said the solution was to satisfy each side’s red line (Democrats insist they won’t negotiate on paying off debts the US has already incurred, while Republicans demand spending cuts). ) can be side negotiations that combine a debt limit increase with a budget. agreement.

Having increased the debt limit, avoiding an economic catastrophe, the GOP could claim that the Democrats backed down from the no-deal position and the Democrats could claim some victories in the budget talks and focus on them.

A potential bipartisan deal «would take the budget negotiations and combine them with raising the debt ceiling,» said Sen. Lindsey Graham, RS.C., a member of the Budget Committee tasked with selecting the main spending figures for the government annually. and the Appropriations Committee, which distributes these funds. «Eventually we have to finance the government» in September, she said.

«Maybe they can agree on some broad lines that would show some fiscal restraint and raise the debt ceiling, but we’ll get there,» Graham said.

There is a tight timeline; the Treasury Department says the US will default on its debt for the first time on June 1, unless Congress raises the borrowing limit.

Speaking to reporters at a briefing Thursday, Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., outlined four policy areas where Biden and Republicans could come to an agreement: recovering unspent Covid relief funds, reviewing the permitting process for infrastructure and energy projects, setting spending caps for upcoming government funding bills, and expanding work requirements for participants in some safety net programs.

“I think there’s a very good opportunity there,” said Graves, a close ally of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who helped craft the House-approved GOP debt ceiling package.

Rep. Dusty Johnson, RS.D., called all four areas the «lower fruit» that are backed by both Republicans and «common-sense Democrats.»

“The White House has said that all these Republican requests are useless. They will say that they will not accept anything. We know they will,” said Johnson, chair of the Republican Main Street Caucus, which calls itself a pragmatic group of lawmakers.

Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a centrist Democrat who has a key swing vote, said he would support adding permit reform, a longtime priority of his, to a debt ceiling package.

“I’ll take it where I can get it. We are working to get it,” she said. “This should be a bipartisan permit reform bill.”

Still, it’s easier said than done. Many of the proposals face obstacles in winning the support of a divided Congress.

A wild card in the already tense standoff is former President Donald Trump, the de facto leader of the Republican Party and their favorite for the 2024 presidential nomination, who added fuel to the fire this week by inciting an unprecedented default unless Democrats get give up to demands for conservative policies and drastic spending cuts.

Biden and the Democratic leaders who control the Senate are adamant that Congress raise the debt ceiling without conditions and that any negotiations be specific to the federal budget.

They also seek to put pressure on the Republican Party by highlighting Trump’s comments on CNN that downplay non-compliance. But McCarthy, a Trump ally who has worked to remain in his good graces, won’t budge on his refusal to extend the debt limit without conditions, even as he says he doesn’t want the country to default.

The Democrats are equally adamant.

“We are going to approve a clean debt ceiling. We will avoid default. And we will have conversations about the budget and the expenses and the appropriate way forward. That is my sincerest hope,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a Biden ally who holds his former Senate seat, told NBC News on Thursday.

«It was dangerous and irresponsible for former President Trump to casually say last night, ‘Hey, just go ahead and default.'»

At CNN’s town hall on Wednesday, Trump directly implored congressional Republicans: «If you don’t give them massive cuts, they’re going to have to default,» he said.

Moderator Kaitlan Collins told Trump that she once spoke out against using the debt limit as a bargaining wedge. “Sure, that was when I was president,” Trump replied, adding that this time is different “because now I am not president.”

When asked about the economic calamity that could result in the first US default, Trump said: “It could be very bad. It could be maybe nothing.»

(Left to right) House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), US President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Majority Leader House Minority Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) wait before a meeting on the United States debt ceiling in the Oval Office of the White House May 9, 2023 in Washington, DC.  Biden and Republican leaders met in hopes of breaking a deadlock over the US debt limit.  Lifting the national debt ceiling allows the government to pay for expenses already incurred.
McCarthy, Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y., at Tuesday’s meeting.Brendan Smialowski / AFP – Getty Images

Pressured by Trump’s comments encouraging default, McCarthy quickly pivoted on Thursday to attack Biden, repeatedly arguing that House Republicans are the only ones in Washington who have passed legislation to raise the debt ceiling. McCarthy’s package would increase the federal borrowing limit by $1.5 trillion or through March, whichever comes first, but would reverse key pieces of Biden’s agenda.

«I’ve seen President Biden not want a deal and he wants a default,» McCarthy told reporters on Capitol Hill. House Republicans are «the only ones who have raised the debt limit.»

House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, did not say Thursday whether he agrees with Trump that a debt default could be better than the current fiscal trajectory. “We passed a proposal that would raise the debt ceiling and pay the bills,” he said.

“I am encouraged that the parties are at the table and talking,” Arrington said in an interview. «And that’s more than we’ve had for almost 100 days… I think what changed the dynamic was the Republicans put a proposal on paper and passed it in the House.»

A big challenge in any deal will be for McCarthy to keep his Republican members in check, particularly the 20 agitators who tried to stop him from becoming president and finally relented after they secured a rule change under which any member can force a vote. Chamber full. vote to remove him from the presidency when he pleases them.

Rep. Ralph Norman, RS.C., an ultra-conservative lawmaker who pushed for deadlock on the debt limit, said the solution is for Senate Democrats and Biden to «accept what we send you» and pass the bill. House GOP bill as it stands.

Told that the Democrats would not pass the bill, Norman responded: “Okay, then let’s face the consequences. Alright.»

Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, another ultra-conservative Republican who has pushed for spending cuts in an extension of the debt ceiling, also called on Biden to agree to the debt and spending cuts package Republicans approved last month.

“Look, the deal on the table is the deal,” Roy said. “The president has an obligation to bring something for our consideration. But if I’m honest, for me, the price of this goes up every day.»