Top GOP negotiator: Deal could be reached in ‘hours’ or ‘days’

Top GOP negotiator: Deal could be reached in ‘hours’ or ‘days’

Rep. Patrick McHenry, of North Carolina, who is one of the House Republicans’ lead negotiators, told reporters Saturday that a deal might be reached in “hours” or “days.”

This is not what I expected the last hours or days to be like. “We’re approaching a small set of issues to be addressed,” he said. “We have had a very long list for quite some time.” What I did not anticipate was that we would have a short list for an extremely long time.

McHenry, who has for a while described the last issues at play as “most thorny,” declined to give a time frame on when an agreement could be reached.

McHenry noted that while the new deadline of June 5th gives negotiators some breathing room, it also makes it clear that work must be completed quickly: “I believe this clarifies our timeline.”

The Republican legislator added that even though negotiations were difficult and everyone was tired, it wouldn’t stop them finishing the job.

“I think that we are all tired.” “But that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re ready to accept something we find unacceptable,” he said.

The debt ceiling deadline has been moved to June 5,

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen yesterday pushed the deadline for action or risk breaching the debt ceiling until June 5, after repeatedly warning the United States that it could run out cash to pay its bills.

“Based on the latest available data, we estimate that Treasury won’t have enough resources to meet the government obligations if Congress doesn’t raise or suspend the debt ceiling by June 5, Yellen wrote to congressional leaders on Friday.

She said that the Treasury Department has reached its statutory borrowing limits and is using “extraordinary” measures to pay off the country’s debts since January.

The deadline of June 5 is more precise than the earlier estimate that she made, “potentially as soon as as June 1.”