From 3h ago
17.35 BST
White House says 'talks will be difficult' in
debt limit deal
“Real
differences” exist between the two sides in the negotiations over raising the
debt ceiling, a White House official told the Guardian after Republican
lawmakers said they were pausing their participation in the ongoing talks.
“There are
real differences between the parties on budget issues and talks will be
difficult. The President’s team is working hard towards a reasonable bipartisan
solution that can pass the House and the Senate,” the official said.
14m ago
20.00 BST
It became
clear how serious the debt limit situation was earlier this week, when Joe
Biden cut short his planned trip to Asia in order to be back in Washington DC
on Sunday, saying he needed to ensure that the US government is able to avoid a
default.
The
president kept his travel plans to Japan, but nixed stops in Australia and the
first-ever presidential visit to Papua New Guinea, a decision critics say
harmed Washington’s efforts to build alliances against China.
It also
proved to be a very expensive decision for the media organizations who place
their reporters in the White House press corps and task them with following the
president’s every move. The Washington Post reports that the White House Travel
Office had booked a charter flight to Australia for the dozens of journalists that
were planning to come along with Biden, while their employers were also
planning to shell out thousands for their hotels, transportation and logistics.
All of that
had to be canceled, but according to the Post, news outlets are now on the hook
for as much as $25,000 per person in the form of sunk costs for charter flights
and other travel arrangements. While the country’s biggest news outlets all
have reporters at the White House, the news industry has been financially
tumultuous for the better part of 15 years, and the Post says some reporters
fear the debacle will make their bosses cut back on travel with the president –
which could mean less scrutiny of what Biden and his successors actually do
with their time.
Here’s more
from the Post:
The now-canceled
charter flight, organized by the White House Travel Office, cost $760,000, or
about $14,000 for each of the 55 journalists who’d booked seats on it.
Journalists will immediately lose their deposits, about $7,700 each, and may be
on the hook for the rest, according to a memo sent to reporters on Wednesday by
Tamara Keith, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association.
But a
lengthy list of other costs — hotel reservations, ground transportation, a
shared press-filing center, among them — may also be unrecoverable. And
journalists will lose some or all of the cost of their return flights from
Sydney to Washington, as they scramble for last-minute flights from Hiroshima
to Washington.
Bottom
line: The bill for not going to Australia could run upward of $25,000 per
person before any refunds kick in, according to several people involved in
efforts to recover the money. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because
of the sensitivity of negotiations over the funds.
In an
interview, Keith said her organization is seeking to recover as much of the
travel money as possible, though it wasn’t clear how much was possible.
“When the
president travels amid a budget crisis or a debt ceiling crisis, his [travel]
plans can change,” she said, noting that presidents Obama and Trump also
canceled trips during their terms. “These are the risks we undertake with our
eyes open. We hope it never happens. But it just did.”
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