WASHINGTON—President Joe Biden said Wednesday that ongoing debt ceiling negotiations could disrupt plans to meet with allies in Japan and Australia this month and force him to attend the summits virtually instead of traveling abroad.
With the Treasury Department indicating that the US could hit the debt limit on June 1, Biden warned that if he did not find a way out of the political impasse, he could either cancel the trip or move the meeting with world leaders online.
“Depending on the state of affairs and negotiations, you may have to delay the trip, don’t delay, don’t go and do it virtually,” Biden said in New York. Or not go.
Biden plans to attend a summit of the Group of Seven major industrial countries in Hiroshima, Japan, to discuss the response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and tensions with China, followed by a «Quad» meeting in Sydney on May 24 with the Japanese Prime Minister Kishida. Fumio, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Biden is also scheduled to visit Papua New Guinea on his way to Australia to discuss regional security and economic and climate support, the White House said. It would be the first time that a sitting US president has visited the Pacific island nation.
Biden has said that the responsibility for raising the nation’s debt limit rests with Congress and that he will only accept a bill to increase the debt limit with no strings attached. Republicans are trying to use the threat of default as leverage to force concessions on federal spending.
If the deadlock is not broken, the possibility of a default on the nation’s $31.4 trillion debt is threatened, an outcome that could trigger a panic on Wall Street and portend potential political ramifications for Biden ahead of his election. re-election campaign.
Asked if he agreed with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s assertion that congressional leaders had to reach an agreement in principle early next week, Biden demurred, telling reporters on Wednesday that he «was not going to make those kinds of judgments.»
“I have been involved in negotiations my entire career,” Biden added. “Some negotiations happen at the last second. Some negotiations happen way ahead of time. So we’ll see.
Biden and congressional leaders had an acrimonious meeting Tuesday that McCarthy, R-Calif., described to Republican members as a waste of time. The group will meet again on Friday before Biden leaves for Asia next week.
The fight to raise the debt ceiling has evoked the brinkmanship that took place a decade ago when President Barack Obama fought with Republicans in Congress over the same issue.
In October 2013, Obama canceled a planned trip to Asia so he could remain in Washington to negotiate an end to the government shutdown and reach a deal that would raise the debt limit.
Ten years later, Biden finds himself in a similar situation. She is scheduled to travel to Japan next week for a series of meetings with her foreign counterparts. If she skips the trip to stay at the negotiating table in Washington, she would miss a key opportunity to rally America’s allies to curb China’s military and economic ambitions.
But if he decides to leave, he’d be on the other side of the world as the deadline for an unprecedented default looms.
Biden first warned Tuesday that the standoff could derail the trip to Asia.
«I’m still committed, but obviously, this is the most important thing on the agenda,» he said after a meeting with congressional leaders at the White House.
Biden said skipping the trip was «not likely» but added that «it is possible.»
“If we had somehow reached the limit and still hadn’t figured this out and the expiration date was a matter of when I was supposed to be out, I wouldn’t go,” Biden said. «I would stay until this is over.»
Jason Furman, one of Obama’s top economic advisers during his presidency, said Biden may not need to be in Washington to break the impasse.
“Presidents don’t need to negotiate everything personally,” Furman said in an interview. “He has good people around him who are trusted and respected on these issues.
«So my hope is that the government can do more than one thing at a time, but you never know.»
Sally Broston contributed.