ANTSY — After another week of promises of progress mixed with trading barbs on the debt ceiling, it’s safe to say that Congress and the White House are on the slow train. But the June 1 deadline is looming — when the U.S. could default for the first time in history, sending global markets into crisis and potentially depriving Americans of essential social services. Speaker Kevin McCarthy said today that there are “outstanding issues” still to tackle and “I don’t think everybody is going to be happy at the end of the day.” And while the two sides are “closer,” according to Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), they are still meaningfully apart on the issue of spending freezes or cuts. Meanwhile, some Democrats are getting antsy. “It’s time to bring the president off the bench, or bring somebody off the bench. No one’s responding to anything. Kevin’s consistently on message,” said one House Democrat to POLITICO, who was granted anonymity to speak freely. “We have the Oval Office. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Republicans hold a slim majority in the House, making it all but certain that McCarthy will need to rely on Democratic votes to pass an increase, as some hardliners in his party will likely view any compromise with the White House as not going far enough. Similarly, some Democrats are holding fast to the position that President Joe Biden shouldn’t be making any concessions on spending cuts and are likely to be automatic no votes. As we inch closer to the brink, Nightly spoke with POLITICO’s Nicholas Wu, a Congress reporter who has been closely following negotiations, which appear to change every hour. This conversation has been edited. Give us a sense of where the parties stand right now. What are Republican and Democratic negotiators looking for? Things are still really fluid here on the Hill, but negotiators look like they’re inching towards a deal. Broadly speaking, Democratic negotiators want a hike to the debt ceiling past the 2024 election with as few conditions as possible attached. Republicans aren’t going to give them that. Instead, the GOP is looking for spending caps, changes to energy permitting, tightened work requirements for food aid recipients and clawing back unspent Covid dollars. Meanwhile, conservative Republicans are using the debt limit and spending cuts they passed last month as their baseline. What are some of the specific sticking points holding this up and how close or far away does a deal look? This is all changing rapidly — but one sticking point is the duration of the deal. Democrats like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have suggested a freeze in spending should go as long as the hike to the debt ceiling. Negotiators are striking a more positive tone about a deal than they were earlier in the week, but there’s still a lot of moving parts that have to come together. And the clock is ticking to reach a deal, draft text, and pass it before the so-called X-date on June 1, when the government could run out of cash. What are some of the frustrations that members of the Democratic Caucus have expressed with the process, whether it be with the White House or other Democratic leadership? For a lot of Democrats, hindsight on the debt ceiling is 20/20. Some Hill Dems have talked about how they should have raised the ceiling when they had control of both chambers of Congress (something there weren’t the votes for in the Senate anyway). Others have wanted the White House to get more aggressive with its messaging rather than ceding airtime to Republicans. And liberals throughout the caucus are concerned they’ll get a bad deal in the end. What about on the Republican side? Do some Congressional Republicans have frustration with their leadership? There’s less angst on the Republican side, and conservatives have stayed united around McCarthy, but any deal is going to roil the leftmost and rightmost factions of both parties. And when it comes time to vote on a bill, it’ll be a major test of his leadership and hold over the conference. What’s the timeline moving forward? Lawmakers are all set to leave for Memorial Day weekend, but key negotiators are sticking around. The House isn’t scheduled to come back until Tuesday, but lawmakers have been told they’ll have 24 hours notice before returning, and 72 hours to review any legislation. So, next Tuesday is the earliest day on the schedule for them to pass a bill, unless House leaders claw back part of the Memorial Day weekend. Meanwhile, the Senate is also out until Tuesday, and President Joe Biden is scheduled to leave this weekend for Camp David and Delaware. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com. Or contact tonight’s author at cmchugh@politico.com on Twitter at @calder_mchugh.
| 
