White House, Republicans make some progress in debt talks: McCarthy

(Added McCarthy’s comment)

WASHINGTON, May 25 (Reuters) – The White House and Republicans have made some progress in negotiations to raise the national debt ceiling, which currently stands at $31.4 trillion, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters.

“We were working well past midnight yesterday,” McCarthy told reporters. – I think we’ve made some progress. There are still a few unresolved issues and I have instructed our teams to work around the clock to try to resolve this issue.”

Asked whether the US Treasury will be able to pay its debt obligations after June 1 without raising the debt ceiling, McCarthy said: “Money always comes. However, I leave it to the discretion of the Minister of Finance. I’ve always considered June 1 as the deadline.”

U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Valli Adeyemo also said on Thursday that talks on raising the U.S. debt ceiling are progressing between the Joe Biden administration and Republican leaders in Congress, adding that the impasse is already costing American taxpayers dearly.

No deal has already driven debt servicing costs up because of uncertainty, an official at a Washington conference said.

In all other respects, the U.S. economy is in good shape, added Adeyemo: “The last thing we need is an artificially induced crisis.”

Kevin Hern, who chairs the influential Republican Investigative Committee, told Reuters a deal was likely to be reached by Friday afternoon.

Original English message available via code (David Morgan, Steve Holland, Andrea Shalal, Richard Cowen, Graeme Slattery and Douglas Gillison)