Biden, Hill leaders delay debt ceiling meeting as Treasury warns of looming deadline

President Joe Biden and the top leaders of Congress will not meet on Friday to discuss the debt ceiling as originally planned and will instead gather next week.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy indicated that the delay was not a unilateral decision on the part of the White House, but that all parties had agreed to postpone.

"The White House didn’t cancel the meeting — all the leaders decided it was probably in the best of our interest," he said, according to the Washington Post.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell were also expected to attend.

The delay comes as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned lawmakers that they have until June 1 to negotiate a plan to raise the debt ceiling or risk default.

The U.S. hit its spending limit of $31.38 trillion in January of this year, prompting Yellen to implement "extraordinary measures" to pay the government's bills.

In that time, Republicans have sought to extract budgetary concessions from the White House in exchange for raising the debt ceiling, though Biden has thus far not budged on the matter.

The Republican-led House in late April passed a measure to raise the debt ceiling for another year and to implement caps on spending growth so as to address the mounting national debt. Biden has vowed to veto the plan should it reach his desk.

McCarthy has eschewed the prospect of a short-term deal to avert a default, insisting it is time for Congress and the White House to settle the issue.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.