McCarthy Has a Lot of Ideas Ahead of Biden Meeting on Debt

(Bloomberg) -- House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he has a lot of ideas he plans to share with President Joe Biden during a Wednesday meeting on how to avert a market-rattling payments default, but congressional Republicans dont yet have a firm proposal to offer the administration.

After huddling behind closed doors with House Republicans, McCarthy told reporters he wants to deal with the debt ceiling in an adult way and called on Democrats to avoid political games.

Im going to sit down with the president and see if he doesnt want to play politics and if he wants to start negotiating, McCarthy said. Lets sit down and start negotiating where we come together for the American people to put us on a better path.

Republicans want to use threat of a default to extract spending cuts from Democrats, a strategy that Democrats have opposed. Biden, meanwhile, has said hell seek revenues as part of any deal, something difficult or even impossible for McCarthy to agree to.