WASHINGTON − President Joe Biden will shorten a planned trip overseas this week, canceling stops in Australia and Papua New Guinea, with a dispute over the debt ceiling inching toward a resolution.
A source familiar with Biden’s plans said he will return early from his trip abroad on Sunday. Biden will still attend the Group of Seven Summit in Hiroshima this week, the White House said.
Biden was also planning to travel Sydney to meet with the leaders of India, Japan and Australia, collectively known as the Quad. The move underscores the urgency of the looming deadline to prevent the U.S. from defaulting on its debt.
Biden met on Tuesday afternoon with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to discuss raising the debt ceiling, with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warning “time is running out” to avert an economic crisis. A meeting between the leaders last week failed to produce a breakthrough in talks.
At a briefing on Biden’s overseas ahead of the meeting, Biden’s coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, John Kirby, said the White House was “taking a look” at stops that the U.S. president planned to make in Papua New Guinea and Australia before he returns to Washington.
Kirby stressed that Biden would be meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the G-7 Summit in Hiroshima. He will also engage with the prime ministers of India — Narendra Modi — and Australia — Anthony Albanese — while he is at the economic gathering, Kirby said.
“We’re reevaluating the rest of the trip right now,” Kirby said.
Biden is looking forward to attending the G-7, the Biden adviser underscored.
McCarthy has been less optimistic than the White House about finalizing a deal, which the speaker said needs to happen by the end of the week for approval in Congress before June 1. He took a shot at Biden’s planned trip Wednesday to Japan for the G-7 Summit, which Biden had said he was considering attending virtually to focus on debt-ceiling talks.
“All I know is we’ve got 16 more days to go. I don’t think I’d spend eight days somewhere out of the country,” McCarthy said Tuesday. “I think the country wants an American President focused on solving American problems.”
How will debt-ceiling talks play out? Different scenarios to consider
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries will also attend the meeting with Biden on Tuesday.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, in a letter to McCarthy Monday, stuck to her estimate that the U.S. is not track to run out of money by early June and default, perhaps as early as June 1, if Congress fails to take action to raise the debt ceiling to allow the U.S. to continue to borrow.
“Time is running out,” Yellen said Tuesday in remarks to the Independent Community Bankers of America. “Every single day that Congress does not act, we are experiencing increased economic costs that could slow down the U.S. economy.”
Republicans have demanded that spending cuts be a part of congressional action to raise the debt ceiling and avoid a default that would occur if the U.S. is unable to pay its bills.
One priority of Republicans that appears off the table is rescinding Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which Democrats in Congress passed last year to provide historic climate funding and lower prescription drug prices. Biden has slammed Republicans for trying to strip the landmark law.
Biden has said he won’t negotiate with Republicans about raising the debt ceiling, which he’s said should take place without conditions. But he’s left the door open to bargaining with Republicans by saying he’s willing to discuss budgets separately − not under the threat of default.
Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison. White House Correspondent Francesca Chambers is on Twitter as @Fran_Chambers.
