Biden, congressional leaders meet anew on debt limit as White House reevaluates foreign trip

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is considering cutting short his upcoming foreign trip because of the looming debt ceiling crisis, adding urgency to the talks that resumed Tuesday at the White House with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other congressional leaders.

“We’re just getting started,” Biden said in brief remarks to reporters, while others in the Oval Office — Vice President Kamala Harris, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. — stayed quiet and sat soberly.

Tuesday's meeting was pivotal as negotiators were staring down a June 1 deadline, which is when the Treasury Department says the U.S. could begin defaulting on its debts. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters the White House was considering cutting short Biden's planned trip to Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia, set to begin Wednesday.

Biden will still attend the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, as planned but could cancel the later stops. Kirby noted that Biden will already have met with some of the leaders of the so-called “Quad" — the purpose of the Australia leg of the visit — while in Japan, even as he cautioned that no final decisions have been made.

"We wouldn’t even be having this discussion about the effect of the debt ceiling debate on the trip, if Congress would do its job, raise the debt ceiling the way they’...