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President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy are set to meet on Wednesday — the first such gathering since the California Republican won the speakership after Republicans took over the House majority.The highly anticipated meeting is expected to influence how the fight to raise the national debt limit unfolds as the White House and the new House GOP majority are at odds over how to resolve the critical issue.House Republicans say that lifting the borrowing cap must be tied to spending reductions. The White House, however, has countered that it will not offer concessions or negotiate on raising the debt ceiling.The U.S. hit the debt ceiling set by Congress in January, forcing the Treasury Department to start taking extraordinary measures to keep the government paying its bills and escalating pressure on Capitol Hill to avoid a catastrophic default.The debt limit fight will be an early test of McCarthy's leadership as House speaker, where he has to balance competing demands from different factions of his conference amid a razor-thin majority. It will also shed light on how, and to what extent, McCarthy and Biden are able to work with one another.Senate Republicans have indicated they will sit back and see how the House GOP maneuvers a way to raise the $31.4 trillion borrowing limit — before deciding if they need to insert themselves into the process.McCarthy told reporters on Tuesday the nation has reached "a critical point" with respect to the debt limit. Discussing his upcoming meeting with Biden, McCarthy said, "I want to sit down, I want to talk to him. I think we could find common ground. We could find a lot of savings in the spending of government that saves the hardworking taxpayers their money."Battle lines begin to be drawnRepublicans face a political risk as they push to cut spending: If they propose cuts to popular government programs and services, they could face a public backlash.While McCarthy has not settled on any individual proposal and is unlikely to make a specific offer at the Wednesday meeting, he has been hearing suggestions from key players in his conference as he prepares for his first face-to-face meeting with Biden.Ahead of Wednesday's meeting, McCarthy has been involved in extensive preparations, consulting regularly with allies on and off the hill including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich as well as his relevant committee chairs who he has been leaning on for their policy expertise, such as Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith of Missouri and Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, sources familiar with the preparation told CNN. McCarthy and his House GOP allies are hashing out initial demands, discussing steep cuts to domestic programs and a trim to defense spending — all the while steering clear of two programs to avoid voter blowback: Medicare and Social Security.House Republicans are hoping to strengthen their negotiating hand with the White House by uniting around a proposal, but finding conference-wide consensus on spending cuts may prove challenging.The view from Republicans heading into Wednesday's meeting is that it is still early and there are still months of negotiations ahead — meaning there's plenty of time for McCarthy to lay out specifics. Still, leaders are also aware they have to begin laying the groundwork with their members now.Part of McCarthy's efforts will come Wednesday morning when House leaders hold a special conference on the issue of the debt ceiling, an effort to begin to lay the groundwork for members on what is actually achievable in these negotiations. Sources familiar with the planning of that meeting told CNN that the goal is to begin member education and remind the rank-and-file what a reasonable ask will look like in a negotiation when Democrats still control the Senate and the White House. Expectation setting is part of the GOP strategy behind the scenes if leaders are going to be able to ultimately get concessions from the White House at all.The White House, meanwhile, has continued to emphasize the critical importance of avoiding a catastrophic default.McCarthy's position that cuts to Medicare and Social Security are not on the table in exchange for a debt ceiling increase has drawn skepticism the White House. And when asked for his message to McCarthy in the meeting, the president told CNN, "Show me your budget and I'll show you mine."In the meeting, Biden will remind McCarthy of his "Constitutional obligation to prevent a national default, as every other House and Senate leader in U.S. history has done, and as Leaders (Mitch) McConnell, (Chuck) Schumer, and (Hakeem) Jeffries have pledged to do," a White House spokesperson said in a statement to CNN. "He will underscore that the economic security of all Americans cannot be held hostage to force unpopular cuts on working families."In a memo to "interested parties" dated Monday that was written by National Economic Council Director Brian Deese and Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, Biden's top economic advisers said the president intends to pose two questions to McCarthy on Wednesday when the two men meet: Whether McCarthy will commit to the U.S. not defaulting on its financial obligations and when McCarthy and House Republicans will release their budget.Biden, the officials wrote, "will seek a clear commitment from Speaker McCarthy that default — as well as proposals from members of his Caucus for default by another name — is unacceptable."They added, "President Biden will ask Speaker McCarthy to publicly assure the American people and the rest of the world that the United States will, as always, honor all of its financial obligations."A day ahead of the meeting, the president suggested McCarthy was entering the talks from a weakened position, hampered by agreements he made with an unruly GOP conference.Calling McCarthy a "decent man," Biden nonetheless said he had been forced to cater to extremist Republicans in his quest to become speaker.Biden said at a high-dollar fundraiser in Manhattan that McCarthy had to make commitments "that are just absolutely off the wall for the speaker of the House to make."Responding to the president's fundraiser comments, McCarthy told reporters, "Apparently, he doesn't understand ... I'm looking forward to sitting down with the president, negotiating for the American public, the people of America, on how we can find savings. We've watched what the spending has done, we watched it brought us inflation, we watched the challenge that it happened. We're looking forward to changing the course."

Risking China's anger, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy hosted Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday as a “great friend of America" in a fraught show of U.S. support at a rare high-level, bipartisan meeting on U.S. soil.Speaking carefully to avoid unnecessarily escalating tensions with Beijing, Tsai and McCarthy steered clear of calls from hard-liners in the U.S. for a more confrontational stance toward China in defense of self-ruled Taiwan.Instead, the two leaders stood side by side in a show of unity at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, acknowledging China's threats against the island government but speaking only of maintaining longstanding U.S. policy.“America’s support for the people of Taiwan will remain resolute, unwavering and bipartisan,” McCarthy said at a news conference later.Video below: Speaker Kevin McCarthy says U.S.-Taiwan relations have "never been stronger in my lifetime"McCarthy evoked Reagan's peace-through-strength approach to foreign relations and emphasized “this is a bipartisan meeting of members of Congress,” not any one political party. He said U.S.-Taiwan ties are stronger than at any other point in his life.He and Tsai spoke to reporters with Reagan's Air Force One as a backdrop.She said the “unwavering support reassures the people of Taiwan that we are not isolated."Still, the formal trappings of the meeting, and the senior rank of some of the elected officials in the delegation from Congress, threatened to run afoul of China’s position that any interaction between U.S. and Taiwanese officials is a challenge to China’s claim of sovereignty over the island.More than a dozen Democratic and Republican lawmakers, including the House's third-ranking Democrat, joined Republican McCarthy for the daylong talks.During a private session they spoke of the importance of Taiwan’s self-defense, of fostering robust trade and economic ties and supporting the island government’s ability to participate in the international community, Tsai said.They made no mention of calls from hard-liners in and out of Congress for a greater U.S. commitment to Taiwan’s defense if China should attack.Tsai said she stressed to lawmakers Taiwan’s commitment “to defending the peaceful status quo where the people in Taiwan may continue to thrive in a free and open society.”But she also warned, “It is no secret that today the peace that we have maintained and the democracy which have worked hard to build are facing unprecedented challenges."“We once again find ourselves in a world where democracy is under threat and the urgency of keeping the beacon of freedom shining cannot be understated.”The United States broke off official ties with Taiwan in 1979 while formally establishing diplomatic relations with the Beijing government. The U.S. acknowledges a "one-China" policy in which Beijing lays claim to Taiwan, but it does not endorse China's claim to the island and remains Taiwan's key provider of military and defense assistance.For Tsai, it was the most sensitive stop on a weeklong journey meant to shore up alliances with the U.S. and Central America. The U.S. House speaker is second in line of succession to the president. No speaker is known to have met with a Taiwan president on U.S. soil since the U.S. broke off formal diplomatic relations.China has reacted to past trips by Taiwanese presidents through the U.S., and to past trips to Taiwan by senior U.S. officials, with shows of military force. After then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan last August, China responded with its largest live-fire drills in decades, including firing a missile over the island.Chinese officials have pledged a sharp but unspecified response to the meeting with McCarthy.Later Wednesday, China said it “firmly opposes and strongly condemns” Tsai’s visit, in a statement by China's official Xinhua News Agency.China will take “resolute and forceful measures to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the statement said, citing an unnamed Foreign Ministry spokesperson. It urged the U.S. “not to walk further down the wrong and dangerous road.”Video below: China threatens retaliation as Taiwan president meets with U.S. House SpeakerThere was no sign of a large-scale military response as of Thursday morning as China had done previously.Chinese vessels were engaged in a joint patrol and inspection operation in the Taiwan Strait that will last three days, state media said Thursday morning. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said Wednesday evening it had tracked the China’s Shandong aircraft carrier passing through the Bashi Strait, to Taiwan’s southeast.The Biden administration insists there is nothing provocative about this visit by Tsai, which is the latest of a half-dozen."Beijing should not use the transits as an excuse to take any actions, to ratchet up tensions, to further push at changing the status quo," Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters Wednesday during travel in Europe. The Taiwan president's visit to America comes as China, the U.S. and its allies are strengthening their military positions and readiness for any confrontation between the two sides, with Taiwan and its claim to sovereignty a main flashpoint.Confrontation between the U.S. and China, a rising power increasingly seeking to assert its influence abroad under President Xi Jinping, surged with Pelosi's visit and again this winter with the cross-U.S. journey of what the U.S. says was a Chinese spy balloon.Democratic Rep. Pelosi said in a statement, "Today’s meeting between President Tsai of Taiwan and Speaker McCarthy is to be commended for its leadership, its bipartisan participation and its distinguished and historic venue.”Video below: Taiwan President Tsai says 'relationship with U.S. has never been closer'Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war and have no official relations, although they are linked by billions of dollars in trade and investment.For their part, Taiwanese officials in the United States – and Taiwanese presidents on a succession of visits – aim for a delicate balance of maintaining warm relations with their powerful American allies, without overstepping their in-between status in the U.S, or unnecessarily provoking China.To that end, no Taiwanese flag flies over the former Taiwan Embassy in Washington. Taiwanese presidents call their stops in the U.S. “transits” rather than visits, and they steer clear of Washington.McCarthy, the newly elected House speaker, is making an early foray into foreign policy.Joining him for the meeting were the Republican chairman and ranking Democrat on a new House Select Committee on China, along with the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee that handles tax policy important to Taiwan, among others.Seated to McCarthy’s right was the third-ranking House Democrat, Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, who spoke of the long history of U.S.-Taiwan cooperation and an “overwhelming bipartisan commitment” in Congress, working with the Biden administration, to strengthen the relationship.___Mascaro and Knickmeyer reported from Washington. AP writers Nomaan Merchant and Fu Ting in Washington, Huizhong Wu in Taipei and Matthew Lee in Brussels contributed.

With days to spare before a potential first-ever government default, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached a final agreement Sunday on a deal to raise the nation's debt ceiling while trying to ensure enough Republican and Democratic votes to pass the measure in the coming week.The Democratic president and Republican speaker spoke with each other Sunday evening as negotiators rushed to draft and post the 99-page bill text so lawmakers can review compromises that neither the hard-right or left flank is likely to support. Instead, the leaders are working to gather backing from the political middle as Congress hurries toward votes before a June 5 deadline to avert a damaging federal default.“Good news,” Biden declared Sunday evening at the White House."The agreement prevents the worst possible crisis, a default, for the first time in our nation’s history,” he said. “Takes the threat of a catastrophic default off the table.”The president urged both parties in Congress to come together for swift passage. "The speaker and I made clear from the start that the only way forward was a bipartisan agreement,” he said. The compromise announced late Saturday includes spending cuts but risks angering some lawmakers as they take a closer look at the concessions. Biden told reporters at the White House upon his return from Delaware that he was confident the plan will make it to his desk. The bill was posted Sunday evening.McCarthy, too, was confident in remarks at the Capitol: "At the end of the day, people can look together to be able to pass this."The days ahead will determine whether Washington is again able to narrowly avoid a default on U.S. debt, as it has done many times before, or whether the global economy enters a potential crisis.In the United States, a default could cause financial markets to freeze up and spark an international financial crisis. Analysts say millions of jobs would vanish, borrowing and unemployment rates would jump, and a stock-market plunge could erase trillions of dollars in household wealth. It would all but shatter the $24 trillion market for Treasury debt.Anxious retirees and others were already making contingency plans for missed checks, with the next Social Security payments due soon as the world watches American leadership at stake.McCarthy and his negotiators portrayed the deal as delivering for Republicans though it fell well short of the sweeping spending cuts they sought. Top White House officials were briefing Democratic lawmakers and phoning some directly to try to shore up support.As Sunday dragged on, negotiators labored to write the bill text and lawmakers raised questions.McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol on Sunday that the agreement "doesn't get everything everybody wanted," but that was to be expected in a divided government. Privately, he told lawmakers on a conference call that Democrats "got nothing" they wanted.A White House statement from the president, issued after Biden and McCarthy spoke by phone Saturday evening and an agreement in principle followed, said the deal "prevents what could have been a catastrophic default."Support from both parties will be needed to win congressional approval before a projected June 5 government default on U.S. debts. Lawmakers are not expected to return to work from the Memorial Day weekend before Tuesday, at the earliest, and McCarthy has promised lawmakers he will abide by the rule to post any bill for 72 hours before voting.Negotiators agreed to some Republican demands for increased work requirements for recipients of food stamps that House Democrats had called a non-starter.With the outlines of an agreement in place, the legislative package could be drafted and shared with lawmakers in time for House votes as soon as Wednesday, and later in the coming week in the Senate.Central to the compromise is a two-year budget deal that would essentially hold spending flat for 2024, while boosting it for defense and veterans, and capping increases at 1% for 2025. That's alongside raising the debt limit for two years, pushing the volatile political issue past the next presidential election.Driving hard to impose tougher work requirements on government aid recipients, Republicans achieved some of what they wanted. It ensures people ages 49 to 54 with food stamp aid would have to meet work requirements if they are able-bodied and without dependents. Biden was able to secure waivers for veterans and homeless people.The deal puts in place changes in the landmark National Environmental Policy Act designating "a single lead agency" to develop environmental reviews, in hopes of streamlining the process.It halts some funds to hire new Internal Revenue Service agents as Republicans demanded, and rescinds some $30 billion for coronavirus relief, keeping $5 billion for developing the next generation of COVID-19 vaccines.The deal came together after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress that the United States could default on its debt obligations by June 5 — four days later than previously estimated — if lawmakers did not act in time. Lifting the nation's debt limit, now at $31 trillion, allows more borrowing to pay bills already insured.McCarthy commands only a slim Republican majority in the House, where hard-right conservatives may resist any deal as insufficient as they try to slash spending. By compromising with Democrats, he risks losing support from his own members, setting up a career-challenging moment for the new speaker."I think you're going to get a majority of Republicans voting for this bill," McCarthy said on "Fox News Sunday," adding that because Biden backed it, "I think there's going to be a lot of Democrats that will vote for it, too."House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that he expected there will be Democratic support but he declined to provide a number. Asked whether he could guarantee there would not be a default, he said, "Yes."A 100-strong group of moderates in the New Democratic Coalition gave a crucial nod of support on Sunday, saying in a statement it was confident that Biden and his team "delivered a viable, bipartisan solution to end this crisis" and were working to ensure the agreement would receive support from both parties.The coalition could provide enough support for McCarthy to make up for members in the right flank of his party who have expressed opposition before the bill's wording was even released.It also takes the pressure off Biden, facing criticism from progressives for giving into what they call hostage-taking by Republicans.Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state, who leads the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told CBS that the White House and Jeffries should worry about whether caucus members will support the agreement.

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FOX News operates the FOX News Channel (FNC), FOX Business Network (FBN), FOX News Radio, FOX News Headlines 24/7, FOXNews.com and the direct-to-consumer streaming service, FOX Nation. FOX News also produces FOX News Sunday on FOX Broadcasting Company and FOX News Edge. A top five-cable network, FNC has been the most-watched news channel in the country for 17 consecutive years. According to a 2018 Research Intelligencer study by Brand Keys, FOX News ranks as the second most trusted television brand in the country. Additionally, a Suffolk University/USA Today survey states Fox News is the most trusted source for television news or commentary in the country, while a 2017 Gallup/Knight Foundation survey found that among Americans who could name an objective news source, FOX News is the top-cited outlet. FNC is available in nearly 90 million homes and dominates the cable news landscape while routinely notching the top ten programs in the genre.

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FOX News operates the FOX News Channel (FNC), FOX Business Network (FBN), FOX News Radio, FOX News Headlines 24/7, FOXNews.com and the direct-to-consumer streaming service, FOX Nation. FOX News also produces FOX News Sunday on FOX Broadcasting Company and FOX News Edge. A top five-cable network, FNC has been the most-watched news channel in the country for 17 consecutive years. According to a 2018 Research Intelligencer study by Brand Keys, FOX News ranks as the second most trusted television brand in the country. Additionally, a Suffolk University/USA Today survey states Fox News is the most trusted source for television news or commentary in the country, while a 2017 Gallup/Knight Foundation survey found that among Americans who could name an objective news source, FOX News is the top-cited outlet. FNC is available in nearly 90 million homes and dominates the cable news landscape while routinely notching the top ten programs in the genre.

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FOX News operates the FOX News Channel (FNC), FOX Business Network (FBN), FOX News Radio, FOX News Headlines 24/7, FOXNews.com and the direct-to-consumer streaming service, FOX Nation. FOX News also produces FOX News Sunday on FOX Broadcasting Company and FOX News Edge. A top five-cable network, FNC has been the most watched news channel in the country for 17 consecutive years. According to a 2018 Research Intelligencer study by Brand Keys, FOX News ranks as the second most trusted television brand in the country. Additionally, a Suffolk University/USA Today survey states Fox News is the most trusted source for television news or commentary in the country, while a 2017 Gallup/Knight Foundation survey found that among Americans who could name an objective news source, FOX News is the top-cited outlet. FNC is available in nearly 90 million homes and dominates the cable news landscape while routinely notching the top ten programs in the genre.

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