nobody knows and that is adding to the uncertainty. it is not reason for calm, because washington tends to only move when the chips are down, we are right up against a deadline. when no one knows what the deadline is, that does not leave incentive for them to back down or blank. host: what else do we know about? the meeting -- know about the meeting? guest: it is an interesting set up. senators are saying they are out of it, it is between biden and mccarthy. hakeem jeffries will be in the meeting. what we hear from the president afterwards, we'll speaker mccarthy come out over my shoulder to speak to reporters as he has done in the past? maybe. i would set expectations and incremental hint of movement being a positive, no one is expecting a major breakthrough.

no movement, people digging in, is a bad sign. we will see what are already tumbling waves going through financial markets as investors try to figure out if the u.s. debt is as reliable as we thought it was. host: josh wingom/c-span and yon always post on twitter @c-span w j. budget and appropriation for politico here is the congress's perspective on today's meeting, good morning. guest: good morning. host: what's the mood on congress as far as today? guest: i think everybody is waiting to see if any movement comes out of this meeting at all with the white house this afternoon. president biden is expected to meet with the top four congressional leaders at 4:00 p.m. the white house is refusing to

negotiate over the debt ceiling. clean debt ceiling height while republicans have been demanding a number of different spending concessions and both sides have been in a deadlock so everybody is waiting to see if the stalemate can break if there's any kind of movement at all. just basically waiting to see what the next step forward is. the president met with -- hasn't met with mccarthy since february. everybody is just kind of waiting to see if anything comes of it at all. host: if something does come forward, do the leaders have to convince their majorities to go along? talk about the house in that regard. it is are they supporting speaker mccarthy on some path forward? guest: speaker mccarthy has a difficult path forward appeasing his caucus with some kind of deal.

he has may be four votes to lose if everybody is present. he managed to pass a debt ceiling package narrowly it's weaved through the house. that would have raised the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion it also would have cut $130 billion in discretionary spending which is a tremendous amount of money. if this package -- this package barely got through the house. there was a lot of flat -- last-minute changes. you had members who wanted to go even farther saying this bill should be a floor so he's got a difficult job on his hands when it comes to appeasing every single public, hard link a number of different factions there so whatever gets negotiated with the white house will extensively be a lot less severe when it comes to cutting

spending in terms of what he was able to pass through the house. a lot of different personalities to satisfy. host: show people at home the bullet points of this package that was passed in the house just a few weeks ago with that in mind moving over to the senate, what is senator schumer dealing with as far as getting something done? guest: he has a really interesting problem onis hands. he has senators who so quietly calling for negotiations with the white house. senator manchin put out a public statement saying that the president needs to start negotiating with speaker mccarthy. democrats have been largely in lockstep with the white house saying they are not going to negotiate over the debt ceiling. this is something that should just be raised you should not be holding this issue hostage for any kind of spending cut or

anything like that. so using senator manchin say it's time for the president to start negotiating. senator sinema who has been having dinner with speaker mccarthy and expressing support for some kind of bipartisan deal , democrats are largely in lockstep but you have these to purchase from the rest of the party on a number of different issues have shown an interest in working with republicans unlike other democrats. host: factor into that as well if you would senator lee from utah, the letter he drafted, the senators behind him as far as supporting the house republicans. guest: we saw his mother over the weekend. republicans are in no circumstance going to support a clean debt ceiling increase. this included the gop leader mitch mcconnell which is notable because they want senator

mcconnell to get involved but he has it over and over again that any deal has to come from speaker mccarthy and president biden. it's notable to have the senate republican conference so united behind speaker mccarthy like this. when it comes to the debt limit there's only a few more weeks may be to negotiate some kind of deal and we are seeing no willingness from republicans to step in and bail the country out by supporting some sort of clean debt limit increase. host: you have a story this morning, and another group taking out and taking look at the x-date tell people what was discovered. guest: a think tank that specializes in predicting when the treasury department can't pay the bills anymore expect that date to fall somewhere between early june and early august. this is in line with what we are seeing from government and other independent forecasters. we have this problem of not knowing whether it is a treasury

department that can make it past june 15. it's dependable on federal cash flow subject to a lot of change so if the treasury department can make it to june 15 by paying the bills, quarterly tax receipts will come and that might carry the treasury department through the end of june when another, about $145 billion will help the treasury department keep borrowing for a few more weeks into the summer. that would push the whole crisis into july or august at the latest. really, no one is sure if treasury can make it to mid june. that is one of the uncertain factors is whether not congress has a genuine debt ceiling crisis on their hands in just a few weeks or if we have several more weeks over the summer to figure this out. host: i thought it was interesting that you wrote that even the date presented to members of congress, they reacted in a very, maybe not the

week you would think they would. can you explain that? guest: i think a number of factors are at play there. congress can move extremely quickly when they want to. often, they let this happen at the very last minute. if it happens previously in years prior where it did ceiling -- debt ceiling came together at the very last minute. we are a default a couple days out so i would expect any sort of agreement to come together at the very last minute. it doesn't benefit either side right now to start panicking or saying that we need to support a short-term extension or anything like that both sides are very dug in and i expect that to continue. until there some sort of hispanic -- some sort of panic like facing default. host: how many working days does congress have to resolve this issue?

guest: it's a handful of days. the house and senate have different recesses schedule. the president has travel schedules so there are only a handful of legislative days where they are both in session to figure this out. that being said, there are always options on the table like canceling a previously scheduled recess or canceling trouble or something like that. congress can move very quickly when it wants to and i expect it will apply here as well. time is running out and it's really unclear whether or not were going to have a crisis on our hands or for going to have the rest of the summer to be thinking about this. host: one of those strategies people have been writing about, something called about the discharge position can you explain how that works and how that would factor into this discussion? guest: minor leader a few weeks ago sent a letter to his colleagues think he was preparing this discharge

position, it's essentially interesting procedure where it would force a focus -- a vote on the debt ceiling increase. it will require support from house republicans. they're going to need 218 votes for that. i would expect democrats do not have the support from house republicans at that point. senator schumer and minority leader are preparing these backup plans at the moment. both sides are very dug in we haven't seen moderate republicans think this is something we need to start considering. it doesn't benefit either side at this point but a petition is one option to force a vote on a debt ceiling increase. it would require republican support, it could take a really long time it's not really an option that's been considered but it is an option.

host: tell me who you are watching out for today and who are the people to watch today in the next few days. guest: we have to watch the white house for one to see if they are willing to engage at all on some sort of spending cuts or spending negotiation, you know, in messaging this meeting up until now biden administration had said that they are hoping to talk about government funding separately from debt ceiling negotiations. they have been really clear they want to keep this separate. they don't want to tie any kind of spending cap to the sin -- debt ceiling. the white house is in a position here where they're either have to come to the table and it say they're going to talk about spending reductions the coming fiscal year or they're going to refuse to negotiate on that front and just keep pushing for a clean debt ceiling increase. republicans say the ball is in the white house's court i think

it's worth watching to see if they inched towards that kind of discussion at all and at the same time it's worth watching moderate republicans, are they getting nervous? at they starting to worry about the weight financial markets are reacting because cracks are starting to form in the financial market. both sides sort of willing to negotiate or fold. it will be interesting to watch. i wouldn't be surprised if nothing comes out of the meeting today and everybody is still dug into their sites. host: you can find her work at politico.com. >> this afternoon at 4 eastern, house and senate leaders will be gathering with president biden at the white house for talks on the debt limit aiming to avoid a potential default next month. republicans want spending cuts as a part of debt limit talks as democrats and the president insist on a clean debt limit increase.

taeutd's -- today's meeting comes a little more than three months after biden and mccarthy offered their initial positions. c-span cameras will be at the white house and capitol hill today to which you latest, including any public statements from those directly involved. >> house members today are working on several science related bills and legislation to combat the use of the animal tranquil hraoeuzer in illicit drugs. votes are expected at 6:30 today. later this week the house will consider the republicans' border security and immigration bill. the house rules committee is meeting today to craft rules for debating that legislation. off the floor congressional leaders are scheduled to meet with president biden at the white house to talk about the federal debt limit. follow c-span for updates on that meeting. the house now in recess until 2 p.m. eastern today. watch live congressional coverage right here on c-span.