Biden, congressional leaders likely to meet Tuesday for talks on raising the debt limit

President Joe Biden says he and congressional leaders will likely resume talks on Tuesday at the White House over the debt limit.

President Joe Biden and congressional leaders will likely resume talks on Tuesday at the White House over the debt limit as the nation continues to edge closer to its legal borrowing authority with no agreement in sight.

The meeting was initially supposed to be Friday, but was abruptly postponed so staff-level talks could continue before Biden and the four congressional leaders huddled for a second time.

Administration and congressional officials said Sunday that a meeting has not been finalized, although Tuesday was the likeliest option. Biden was returning to Washington on Monday and is scheduled to leave for the Group of Seven summit in Japan on Wednesday.

Biden on Sunday did not detail much progress in the talks, but said he remained hopeful that an agreement could be reached with Republicans to avoid what would be an unprecedented debt default, which could trigger a financial catastrophe.

"I remain optimistic because I’m a congenital optimist," Biden told reporters while out for a bike ride in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. "But I really think there’s a desire on their part as well as ours to reach an agreement. I think we’ll be able to do it.”

Aides said talks had continued throughout the weekend. But at least publicly, there was little indication that either the White House or House Republicans had budged from their initial positions. Biden has called on lawmakers to lift the debt limit without preconditions, warning that the nation’s borrowing authority should not be used to impose deep spending cuts and other conservative policy demands.

“We’ve not reached the crunch point yet,” Biden told reporters Saturday before flying to his beach home. “There’s real discussion about some changes we all could make. We’re not there yet.”