The White House and House Republicans look to be closing on an agreement to ensure the government can continue paying its debts as the country fears hitting the debt ceiling as early as June 1.
The exact details of the deal have yet to be hashed out, and it is unclear when an agreement would be unveiled, but President Joe Biden has reiterated he thinks defaulting is not an option.
“They’re making progress,” Biden said in remarks Thursday. “I’ve made clear time and again that defaulting on our national debt is not an option.”
Outside of Washington, the worst-kept secret in the 2024 Republican presidential race is out – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis officially announced his presidential campaign Wednesday in a major shakeup to the GOP primary.
Republican South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott also formally announced his own White House bid Monday. And CNN announced it will be hosting two town halls with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and former Vice President Mike Pence after the network’s controversial town hall with former President Donald Trump.
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What happened this week in politics?
Debt ceiling talks continue: ‘We’ve got to make more progress now’
With less than a week before June 1, the earliest date the U.S. could run out of cash to pay its bills, negotiators for the White House and House Republicans look like they are nearing an agreement to raise the debt ceiling.
Among the possible compromises is a cap on annual discretionary spending for the next two years instead of the six years House Republicans have been pushing for, in addition to keeping spending levels flat for domestic programs.
The House adjourned for the long Memorial Day weekend on Thursday, but if a deal is reached, lawmakers could be called back into Washington to vote on the agreement to avoid a default.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters Friday negotiators “made progress last night” but “we’ve got to make more progress now.”
Related: Could the 14th Amendment solve the debt limit standoff? White House says it’s not a fix
Ron DeSantis announces 2024 presidential campaign
Perhaps one of the worst-kept secrets in the 2024 GOP primary race came out Wednesday when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis formally announced he was running for president.
“Decline is a choice, success is attainable and freedom is worth fighting for,” DeSantis said in an announcement video. “Righting the ship requires sanity to our society, normalcy to our communities and integrity to our institutions.”
DeSantis’ campaign held an unconventional campaign launch on Twitter in a conversation with billionaire Elon Musk, albeit with technical difficulties.
The event, originally scheduled for 6 p.m, crashed on Twitter Spaces and was mired in other glitches. His opponents jumped at the opportunity to take a quick jab at DeSantis. The Biden campaign tweeted a link to its fundraising page that said “This link works,” and Trump called the launch a “DISASTER!” on Truth Social.
But the buggy campaign kickoff was just a blip in what is expected to be a heated primary race for DeSantis’ highly anticipated campaign. In the first 24 hours since the announcement, his campaign announced it raised $8.2 million – a massive sum that establishes DeSantis as one of the main contenders to topple Trump and lead the GOP.
Twitter glitches. No rally. No Trump: 3 surprises about DeSantis’ campaign rollout
2024 Republican presidential primary is heating up
DeSantis’ entrance into the 2024 GOP primary was not the only major news for the race this week.
Tim Scott announced his presidential campaign Monday after a monthslong consideration. Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, is looking to be the first African American to win the GOP nomination.
Scott has anchored his campaign in his unyielding faith and an optimistic message the American dream is still achievable.
“May the Lord bless us for another thousand generations, may he be gracious towards us. I believe the next American century starts today,” Scott told supporters Monday at his hometown in North Charleston, South Carolina.
CNN also announced two town halls with Haley and Pence in Iowa after its controversial event with Trump. Haley’s town hall is slated for June 4, and Pence’s is scheduled for June 7.
A Christian ‘above all things’: How a Ten Commandments fight shaped Tim Scott
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes sentenced to 18 years in prison for role in Jan. 6 2021, Capitol attack
Rhodes, founder of the right-wing militia group Oath Keepers was sentenced to 18 years in prison and 3 years of supervised release Thursday for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack.
Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy last year in November in a trial where prosecutors depicted Rhodes and the Oath Keepers as the ringleaders behind the pro-Trump mob that breached the Capitol.
“I never have said this to anyone I have sentenced: You pose an ongoing threat and peril to our democracy and the fabric of this country,” Judge Amit Mehta, who oversaw the case, said on Thursday.
Supreme Court rules against EPA, limits government authority to address water pollution
The Supreme Court made a major decision Thursday limiting the federal government’s ability to address water pollution.
The court sided with a couple who have been battling the Environmental Protection Agency over a property development plan in the Idaho panhandle. The case centered on the 1972 Clean Water Act and what the EPA could and could not regulate when it comes to the “waters of the United States.”
In an opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, joined by four other conservative justices, the court ruled the Clean Water Act’s vagueness on what types of water it covered was too confusing for property owners.
The opinion has major implications for what types of water the EPA will be able to regulate. The EPA now can only regulate wetlands with a “continuous surface connection” to a larger body of water in a way that makes them “indistinguishable” from said bodies.
Related: Supreme Court sides with grandmother who lost home, equity because of back taxes
Contributing: Joey Garrison, Phillip M. Bailey, Ella Lee and John Fritze, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Week in politics: Washington nears debt deal, DeSantis shakes up 2024
