Top House Republicans and the Biden White House on Thursday sounded upbeat on Washington’s debt-ceiling talks, as investors continued to track the efforts to reach a bipartisan deal on lifting the ceiling for federal borrowing and thereby avoid a market-shaking default. The New York Times late Thursday reported a deal was near that would raise the debt ceiling for two years while cutting some federal spending. Negotiators were working into the evening were starting to draft legislative text, the Times said.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters on Thursday evening that “We’ve been talking to the White House all day, we’ve been going back and forth, and it’s not easy. It takes a while to make it happen, and we are working hard to make it happen.” Earlier in the day, McCarthy has said his deputies and President Joe Biden’s negotiators had worked well past midnight Wednesday and “made some progress.” “There’s still some outstanding issues, and I’ve directed our teams to work 24/7,” the California Republican said. In addition, GOP Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, who heads the influential Republican Study Committee, told Reuters that he thought a deal was likely by Friday afternoon. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden said Thursday afternoon that negotiators are “making progress.” McCarthy and former President Donald Trump talked briefly by phone about the debt-limit negotiations, and Trump later said getting a deal is “not going to be that easy,” according to a New York Ti …
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