McCarthy demands debt limit negotiations with Biden to avoid default.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy is pressuring President Biden to negotiate a package of fiscal reforms in exchange for raising the debt limit, but Democrats refuse to sit down with him, setting the stage for a high-stakes standoff this summer. McCarthy laid out his first broad proposals for spending reforms in a letter to Biden, calling for cutting nondefense discretionary spending, reclaiming unspent COVID-19 relief funding, strengthening work requirements for social safety net programs, and creating policies to lower energy costs and secure the U.S.-Mexico border. Democrats say they won’t negotiate with McCarthy until he shows he has the votes to pass a package of fiscal reforms with top-line spending numbers.