We begin with
the president of the United States.
Just moments ago,
the president
leaving on a critical overseas trip,
but a trip
he is cutting short
because of the looming crisis
about the debt here at home.
Today,
the president says he cut that trip short
to be back for the final negotiations
on the debt ceiling.
Right now, new key
negotiators are meeting up
on Capitol Hill.
The last hour,
the president said he is now confident
there will be an agreement
and that the United States
will not default.
America is not a deadbeat nation.
We pay our bills.
Nation is never default on its debt
and never will.
And we're going to continue
these discussions
with congressional leaders
in the coming days.
Until we reach an agreement.
The House
speaker, Kevin McCarthy,
decided not to let the president
have the last word as the president.
Just after the president finished
speaking, McCarthy says it's about time.
The president's negotiating team
now, the president
and leader Schumer,
have finally backed off
the idea that they won't negotiate.
They finally backed off the insane,
un rational and sensible idea
that you just raise the debt ceiling.
Let's begin our coverage
with CNN's Jeremy Diamond.
He's live at the White House for us.
So a victory for the process,
if you will,
Jeremy, progress on the process.
The question is, what about the substance
that is the big question, John.
And to be sure,
there are still so many talking points
with just 15 days
potentially until the United States
defaults on its debt.
If indeed that June 1st deadline stands.
But today, the president
expressing confidence
that the United States will not default,
mainly because he says there's
no alternative.
The United States can't default
on its debt
And he also noted that yesterday
we heard several leaders come out and say
that all of the leaders,
including the speaker of the House,
acknowledge
that the consequences of default
would indeed be catastrophic.
In line with that, President
Biden has now elevated
these negotiations
to three senior staff members.
The president's
counselor, Steve Ricchetti,
his director of the Office of Management
and Budget, Shalanda Young,
as well as
the director of legislative affairs,
Louisa Terrell.
On the other side for Speaker McCarthy,
you have Congressman
Garret Graves, as well as the speaker's
senior staff.
But the president
nonetheless, in an acknowledgment
that this deal
is going to come down
to him and Kevin McCarthy
cutting that trip short,
going only to Japan, not going forward
with those stops
to Papua New Guinea and Australia.
And that's
because he wants to be back
for the final negotiations,
which are expected to happen
next week if indeed a deal is to be had.
At the same time, John,
as you just heard
from the speaker of the House,
he is saying, look,
the White House is finally willing
to negotiate.
They've dropped this pretense
that they are not
negotiating over the debt,
not quite here.
If you talk to folks here
at the White House,
they still insist
they are not negotiating over default.
Nonetheless, what's clear
is that they are negotiating
over the spending agreement
with that
ticking time
bomb of the potential for default,
hanging over them. John.
Jeremy Diamond,
kick us off to the White House.
Jeremy, thank you.
Let's bring the conversation in the room
with me to share their reporting
and their insights, CNN's
Melody Senator
Francesca Chambers of USA Today and
Margaret Talev of Axios.
The idea that you're
negotiating the budget or the debt,
let's just say that's a difference
without a distinction or a distinction
without a difference.
Call it what you will.
My question is Kevin
McCarthy gets a big win
here on the process,
direct negotiations
between the White House team
and people
he trusts on the White House team
and the speaker's office.
The question is how much wiggle room
does Kevin McCarthy have
on the substance?
Because the House Republicans
are not going to get
everything they want.
They're not going to get everything
they want.
Whatever they do
come up with,
there's going to be a sales job
that Kevin McCarthy
has to do to his conference.
They've been trying to lower
the expectation, particularly
among conservatives, that
what they pass in
the House
is not going to be the final deal,
that they're going to
have to be flexible.
This is going to take some compromise.
You're right
that there is a small step
forward in terms of process
and structure.
This is what Kevin McCarthy wanted
all along.
He wanted it to just be him
and President Biden negotiated
because he sees Biden as more flexible
than some of these other
Democratic leaders.
And case in point,
Biden is still leaving the door
open to potentially
some form of work requirements.
Which is something
that Democratic leaders
are warning against, saying
it's a nonstarter for them.
But Kevin McCarthy feels like
he has an upper hand right now
and that he can get Biden to a good place
to that point.
The president over the weekend said, hey,
I voted for work requirements and welfare
reform back in the eighties.
The White House said, oh, gosh.
And they scramble to try to quiet
progressive complaints.
They issued a statement
yesterday afternoon
saying the president
was not going to accept work
requirements.
Speaker McCarthy says it's a red line.
Today, as Melanie notes,
the president opened the door
maybe just a little bit. He opened it
I'm not going to accept
any work requirements
that's going to impact on mental health
needs of people.
I voted years ago
for the work requirements that exist
but it's possible
there could be a few others,
but not anything of any consequence.
Do we have any definition
of what he means?
There is, he said, medical.
So I assume he means Medicaid.
That's right.
We'll see if that plays out.
But snap or food
stamps or food assistance,
that's another area
Republicans are looking for.
Is that with the president's
opening there
or are we waiting for the White House
to clean it up again?
He's not.
So a White House official tells me
that the president thinks
that there could be some possibility
in other potential areas.
But as he went on to say nothing, of
of consequence.
So snap.
No Tanev, no Medicaid.
No, he's not willing to go beyond
what he already voted for there.
Now, one area
that the White House is signaling
that they could negotiate
with Republicans on
is those spending caps
they might be willing to agree
to a spending cap.
Now, the question of that would be for
how long is this one year?
Is this ten years?
But that is where you could see
some potential movement.
The White House wants it
to be one or two years
that you get through the next election.
They hope they win.
They hope the Democrats pick up.
This is part of the dance
everyone's thinking about 20, 24.
But we can go back to just the new
the president's new team,
his budget
director, Shalanda
Young, who has deep
experience up on Capitol
Hill, a deep respect
among a lot of the Republicans out there.
Steve Ricchetti,
I know Steve from the Bill Clinton
White House
and he's been around a long time
and Republicans
have been in a lot of negotiations
with him.
Louisa Terrell is the president's
legislative affairs director.
Garret Graves
is one of the speaker's
most trusted fellow House
Republicans there.
Let me put it this way.
You have adults in the room
who know how to negotiate.
The question is, why did it take so long?
Because everyone was in this dance over
whether or not were going to negotiate.
Yeah, because who's going to blink first?
But look, I mean, you have to
there is something
that will get everyone
across the finish line.
For Kevin McCarthy,
it's to maintain the speakership.
He needs to bring enough of his caucus
along that he doesn't lose power.
For Joe Biden, it's two things
not to have a default
and to get this postponed to
this never has to happen again
until after
the next presidential election.
Those two things are a win for Joe Biden.
Why does he keep opening the door?
Is it just because he's gaffe prone
or can't help himself?
I don't think so.
It's because we have now
30 some years of polling,
but at least five or six
consistent years of immediate polling
that show
that actually Americans
don't think
that people should have a free ride,
that the way you packages
and talk about this matters
and that if for better or for worse, it's
usually for worse.
There are two Americas.
McCarthy is messaging to different voters
than Joe Biden is.
And what President Biden,
I think, is trying to make clear is
he is willing to
talk about
language to suggest
that everybody try to work if they can.
But he is not going to leave
anyone destitute
or uncovered for health care.
This there is a lot of wordsmithing
and rhetoric attached to all of this.
But when I heard McConnell
and McCarthy say yesterday,
nobody wants to default to me
that says this thing is done
and it's just a matter of every I think
you have you back here in a week.
It'll be wrong and it'll be a disaster.
But I think everyone is trying
to get to the finish line with their own
audience and suggested
there could be a deal.
Also,
he said that he's
looking for designing it.
But I think, again,
putting that team in the room
with somebody,
McCarthy Trust tells you
that they very much want to get it done.
The question is
there are some difficulties.
Let's move on.
Another big thing
that's going to happen today,
that maybe it affects the mood
in Washington,
maybe it's just a sideshow.
Is the Democrats are trying to expel
Jorge Santos from the House.
That does break sort of precedent in town
that normally it is your own party.
If you're going to go to extreme
like that, it's your own party. Does it?
The other party should be kicking out
members of the other party.
Listen to some of the Democrats,
including the Democrats
behind this party, say, look,
Jorge Santos is an embarrassment
He needs to go
and Republicans in
the House
now have an opportunity
to either stand with the American public
and their constituents
or to stand with someone
who has been indicted on 13 counts
to every member
of the Republican conference
from New York.
I say to you,
if you vote for this motion
to refer it to the Ethics Committee,
you are
complicit in Jorge Santos's fraud.
Again, a bit of a lesson
on the rules of Washington.
For those of you
watching at home
who smartly don't read all of this
It's a privilege revolution.
So the Democrats
have a right to get it to the floor
because they file
that is a privilege
revolution resolution.
The speaker wants to then
essentially have an amendment
that refers it to the ethics committee,
which buys him weeks, if not months.
Let's put the New York Republicans
up on the screen.
Republicans
have the majority in the House
because they want a bunch of districts
in New York State.
Last year,
some of them very competitive districts.
These Republicans have want
they want Santos to resign.
And yet tonight,
the speaker is asking them,
take one for the team.
Don't vote to expel him.
Vote to stall this.
Will the speaker win on this one?
It looks like they're going to have
the votes.
My colleague
Christine Wilson
caught up with one of those members,
Mike Lawler.
He said he's going to back McCarthy here
and he is going to vote to refer this
but he
he is confident
that at some point
Jorge Santos is no longer going to be
a member of Congress.
Really what this is, it's a delay tactic.
McCarthy doesn't
want to have to put his members
on the record over this.
He doesn't want to expose
Republican divisions.
So he thinks this is a way to sort of
punt the issue.
But it's not going
to it's not going to go away.
Jorge Santos is going to be
a member of Congress
the House Ethics
Committee at some point
is going to make a conclusion.
And we don't have a lot of evidence
about what Jorge Santos has done.
He pleaded guilty in Brazil to theft.
He's been charged
at least with 13 counts
of lying to Congress.
Money fraud,
money laundering, wire fraud.
He's also admitted
to lying about his resume.
It's just a huge black guy
And so for any of those, again,
the speaker says you need to be
a loyal Republican.
Vote with me
to refer to the Ethics Committee.
All of those New York Republicans
who do that within months,
if not weeks or days,
we'll have a TV
ad or a radio ad against them
from the Democrats in New York.
We're trying to beat them next year.
That's what some of this is about
timing wise. It's about politics.