By Katharine Jackson, Steve Holland and Moira Warburton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy were holding a phone conversation on Saturday evening about the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations, a person familiar with their plans said.
The two were expected to speak starting at 6 p.m. E.D.T., the person said.
McCarthy said earlier on Saturday that he was making “progress” in negotiations on raising the federal government’s debt ceiling, as the nation faced risk of default in little more than a week.
However just ahead of the expected call between Biden and McCarthy, Republican deal negotiator Patrick McHenry told reporters “major disagreement” remained between his party and Biden’s Democrats.
“Republicans want to cut spending. That’s what we’ve offered with our approach to raising the debt ceiling, with work requirements for able bodied folks to get back in the workforc
Republican Kevin McCarthy said on Saturday he was making "progress" in negotiations with Democratic President Joe Biden on raising the federal debt ceiling.
"We do not have a deal," McCarthy told reporters. "We are not there yet. We did make progress, we worked well into early this morning. And we're back at it now."