The White House has postponed a meeting on debt ceiling negotiations between President Biden and congressional leaders that was scheduled for Friday to allow staff-level talks to continue.

“Staff will continue working and all the principals agreed to meet early next week,” a White House official said. A House GOP source also confirmed the postponement but gave no further details.

The White House viewed the delay as a positive development, the White House source said, adding staff meetings were going well and it was not yet time for the principal leaders to come back together. 

The decision came as Biden was set to host Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and other top lawmakers for the second time this week to discuss a path forward on lifting the debt ceiling and avoiding a default. Biden had hosted congressional leaders on Tuesday.

McCarthy emerged from Tuesday’s meeting saying there was no tangible progress and that all sides simply restated their positions. But the leaders had agreed to reconvene on Friday while staff-level discussions took place in the interim.

Gene Sperling, a senior White House adviser, said Wednesday that those talks had been going well initially.

“It was a conversation that, for at this stage of the discussion, was productive,” Sperling said. “I think there was a good feeling in the room, or at least a sense of productivity.”

DEVELOPING

Emily Brooks contributed