White House and Republicans still at odds over spending as debt ceiling talks continue

Washington — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday that House Republicans and the White House remain "far apart" on reaching consensus on a plan to address the debt ceiling as the threat of a historic default on the nation's debt grows.

McCarthy told reporters on Capitol Hill that the GOP negotiators, Reps. Patrick McHenry and Garret Graves, are resuming talks with Biden administration officials on the White House campus in hopes of brokering a deal to avert a default on the country's $31.4 trillion debt.

But the speaker warned "there's a number of places that we are still far apart" and said "it didn't seem like it'd be this hard" to reach an agreement. McCarthy reiterated the GOP's demands to slash federal spending rather than freeze it at current levels, and again vowed not to bring a clean bill solely addressing the debt limit to the House floor, as the White House and Democrats have been pushing for.