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The White House and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s negotiators have agreed to claw back excess pandemic funding, in a sign that discussions about the debt ceiling are progressing, Fox News reported Monday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the talks.
In addition, the two sides were said to have agreed to include permitting reform in an agreement that would speed up the approval process for energy projects. But other areas of disagreement so far include discretionary spending limits and timing as well as expanded work requirements for government assistance programs.
Time is running out as the Treasury is “highly likely” to run out of money to pay the government’s bills as early as June 1 if Congress doesn’t raise or suspend the debt limit before then, in what would mark an unprecedented U.S. debt default, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reiterated earlier.
Both sides are also talking about other potential areas of agreement, including the tax rate on carried interest, which is income that investment managers receive that are taxed at a lower capital gains rate than regular income, sources told Fox News.
In comments to reporters at the Capitol earlier Monday, McCarthy said no agreement had yet been reached, though “we’re going to continue working.” In an effort to advance closer to an agreement with just 10 days, before a potential default President Biden and McCarthy were scheduled to meet in-person at 5:30 p.m. ET.
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