House Speaker Kevin McCarthy ruled out a short-term hike to the debt ceiling on Tuesday shortly before a meeting with President Biden at the White House on the looming fiscal deadline.

“We shouldn’t kick the vote. Let’s get this done now,” said Mr. McCarthy, California Republican. “Why continue to kick the can down the road? Let’s solve it now.”

The comments came ahead of Mr. McCarthy’s meeting at the White House with Mr. Biden and other congressional leaders on the debt limit.

Last week, White House officials floated the prospect of a short-term debt limit hike to avoid a default on the government’s abilities to pay its debt after June 1.

Mr. McCarthy dismissed the idea, saying that Mr. Biden has “got to stop ignoring problems.”

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that Congress has until June 1 to raise the statutory limit on how much the federal government can borrow to meet expenses or risks defaulting on the more than $31 trillion debt, a move that could cause chaos in financial markets and trigger a downgrading of the U.S. credit rating.

There is already evidence that confidence among investors in public debt is shrinking. Last week, the U.S. Treasury sold $50 billion of four-week securities at a record interest rate of 5.84%. That’s the highest interest rate seen on sales of U.S. debt since 2000.

The $50 billion bonds are set to mature on June 6 — five days after a potential default. For comparison, the Treasury sold bonds last week that are set to mature on May 30 at a rate of 3.83%.

“We are in a game of chicken and it may very well blow up the economy,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley, Oregon Democrat.

• Haris Alic can be reached at halic@washingtontimes.com.