President Joe Biden left open the possibility he would cancel upcoming travel to Japan for the G-7 summit, Australia, and Papua New Guinea if it was necessary to remain in Washington for talks over raising the debt ceiling.
“I’m still committed, but obviously this is the single most important thing on the agenda,” Biden told reporters Tuesday following a meeting with congressional leaders at the White House.
Biden said if talks “got down to the wire,” he would stay until the issue was resolved.
Biden is scheduled to visit Hiroshima for a Group of Seven leaders summit on May 19-21, where the world’s leading economies are expected to discuss the war in Ukraine as well as security in the Asia-Pacific region.
From there, he’s planning to travel briefly to Papua New Guinea for a forum with Pacific Island nations, and then to Australia for the Quad leaders’ summit with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, hosted by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Following The Quad summit on May 24, Biden is scheduled to return to Washington.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said that the US could exhaust measures it has used to avert a debt-ceiling breach as soon as June 1.
