Geoff: Welcome to "The
newshour."
10 days now stand between the
U.S. And a catastrophic default
on debt.
Treasury secretary Janet
Yellen's new estimate moves the
potential default to June 5.
The announcement provides
breathing room for the ongoing
talks.
Leigh Ann Caldwell is a capitol
correspondent with "The
Washington post."
She joins us now with the
latest.
This announcement from treasury
means that lawmakers now have
four additional days to arrive
at a deal, pass it through both
chambers of congress, and send
it to the president's desk.
How does this do deadline affect
the ongoing negotiations?
Leigh Ann: That is right.
There are a couple of things.
They have a few more days.
Originally, treasury secretary
Ellen said it can be as early as
June 1.
June 5 is now the definitive
date.
That is something congress did
not have before.
While it does perhaps give them
a few more days, I will say what
Republican leadership are saying
, Patrick McHenry ago that now his
Republican conference which has
been skeptical about the date
anyway now has something
definitive.
Now, he can urge everyone to act
more quickly.
Geoff: You mentioned house
speaker Kevin Mccarthy.
He has been saying that both
sides are negotiating in good
faith and progress is happening.
One of the GOP negotiators whose
actually in the room,
congressman Garrett Draves,
spoke to reporters and says
there are still ways to go.
>> That are outside issues.
We are not there.
I think we have really
identified where the biggest
differences are.
I think the bottom line is it
comes down to whether or not we
are going to default on the
American debt.
Default on seniors with social
security and medicare and have
the Democrats continue to say we
are going to prioritize welfare
payments for people who are
refusing to work.
Geoff: In the last part, these
referring to work requirements
for some federal safety net
programs.
That has emerged as a sticking
point.
What else are both sides
negotiating?
Leigh Ann: They are all saying
there is no deal until
everything is agreed to.
I will say there has been a
little bit of a vibe shift from
last night to this morning.
My sources are telling me they
were pretty optimistic that they
were going to be able to wrap
this up relatively quickly
today, maybe tomorrow.
As the day progressed, the
afternoon progressed, things
seem to have clamped down a
little bit.
There's not as many good signs,
not as much talking from the
team of negotiators.
So, it could be at this crucial
point where things are a little
bit stuck.
They are trying to get those
last final details.
Work requirements is a big one.
This is something that is
extremely important to
Republicans.
They are wanting additional work
requirements for the social
safety net programs.
While Democrats are practically
drawing a redline on this issue.
They say additional work
requirements are just
unacceptable.
It will be hard to work this
out.
Geoff: As you know, reaching an
agreement is really only half of
the challenge because
Progressive Democrats and far
right Republicans are suggesting
they may not be able to vote for
any sort of compromise.
Are there enough votes in the
so-called middle to get this
thing across the finish line?
Leigh Ann: That's a great
question.
The middle is where the votes
have to come from.
It has long been thought that
the far right, the house freedom
caucus is probably not going to
support any sort of compromise.
The same could be said for the
left as well.
That is the challenge that these
negotiators have.
We call it the goldilocks
method.
Finding the perfect center.
Not too hot and not too cold,
but that perfect combination of
things that enables the center
to find 218 votes.
That is what they need.
It will come from Republicans,
it will come from Democrats.
They have to tweak this
legislation to find it.
Geoff: We have about 20 seconds
left.
We should say there is no backup
plan here if there's no way to
arrive at a deal.
Leigh Ann: There is no backup
plan.
They are going to have to arrive
at a deal and they don't have a
lot of time because after you
get a deal, you have to write
legislative text.
It has to go through the house
of representatives and then the
senate.
That could take some time so we
are still many steps away.
Geoff: Thank you for your
reporting and your insights.
Leigh Ann: Of course.
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