WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday he still intended to attend the Group of Seven (G7) Summit, which is scheduled to be hos...
WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday he still intended to attend the Group of Seven (G7) Summit, which is scheduled to be hosted by Hiroshima, Japan, on May 19-21, despite a potential default over the US federal debt.
However, the US president added that there was a slight chance that he would not leave the country.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Biden said he was "still committed" to travel to Japan for the upcoming G7 Summit.
"I’m still committed, but obviously this is the single most important thing that’s on the agenda," the US president said.
Asked by reporters whether Biden would decide to stay in the United States in view of the potential default in the country, the US president replied "It is possible, but not likely."
"If somehow we got down to the wire and we still hadn’t resolved this, and the -- the due date was in a matter of -- when I was supposed to be away, I would not go. I would stay until this gets finished," he stated.
President Biden met on Tuesday in the White House with US Congress leaders, including Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy (Republican, State of California) and Senate leader of the Republican Party Mitch McConnell (State of Kentucky). They discussed the need to raise the national debt ceiling in the country and the US president described the meeting as productive.
"I had a productive meeting with congressional leadership about the path forward, to make sure America does not default on its debt. I emphasize does not default on its debt for the first time in history," Biden said adding that "We agreed to continue our discussions and we're going to meet again on Friday."
"In the meantime, our staffs -- we’re going to meet today and daily between now and then. And everyone in the meeting understood the risk of default," the US president stated.
"I made clear during our meeting that default is not an option. I repeated that time and again. America is not a deadbeat nation. We pay our bills. And avoiding default is a basic duty of the United States Congress," the US president noted.
Asked by reporters to comment on Speaker McCarthy’s remarks about the possible default in the United States, Biden said: "I don’t know what he thinks -- what Speaker McCarthy thinks."
"I think he knows better. I think he knows that default would be disastrous," Biden said. "And I think he knows what he’s passed could not possibly pass anywhere in the Congress; it’s dead on arrival."
The US administration previously called on the Congress to raise the ceiling that is now set at $31.4 trillion. Republicans, who are in control of the House of Representatives, are traditionally skeptical about allowing greater debt and are pushing for reducing government spending.
US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen earlier said the agency would need to take "extraordinary measures" to prevent a default after the nation reached its debt ceiling. The official said the measures should be taken before June 1 this year.
US President Joe Biden signed a bill at the end of 2021 to raise the debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion to $31.4 trillion, averting a potential default. Yellen said at the time that the bill prevented a shortage of funds for the federal government.
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