McCarthy asks Biden to restart talks on budget, debt limit

• Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned the U.S. risks default by early June if Congress does not act.
• Congress skips town at the end of this week and doesn't return until April 17.

Driving the news: In a letter released Tuesday, McCarthy pressed Biden to “please have your team reach out to mine to the end of this week to set a date for our next meeting.”

• The two have not sat down together to discuss the issue since early February — nearly two months ago.
• In the letter, McCarthy signaled his continued opposition to passing a debt ceiling increase without without tying it to spending cuts in the budget.
• "House Republicans are united in our view that the best way to reduce the national debt is to [l]imit [s]pending," he wrote, "I am prepared to sit down to discuss a variety of means to do so that would achieve trillions of dollars in savings."

Yes, but: Biden has hammered McCarthy on the fact that, while the White House released its 2024 budget blueprint earlier this month, Republicans have yet to release theirs.

• House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) said last week McCarthy was preparing a "deal sheet" laying out proposed spending cuts.
• But McCarthy told reporters, "I don't know what he's talking about."

The other side: White House spokesperson Andrew Bates referred to a statement from Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who said, "It’s time for Republicans to stop playing games [and] agree to a pass a clean debt ceiling bill."

• "And if they want to have a conversation about our nation’s economic and fiscal future," the statement continued, "it’s time for them to put out a budget — as the president has done."