“I think what’s really troubling the markets and others is that it’s not clear when or if they’re going to meet again,” said Neil Bradley, a former McCarthy aide who served as deputy chief of staff at the time. that House. Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., during the debt limit fight in 2011. During that standoff, talks went into the last day before a deal could be cut.
Working under a new deadline and with key players coming together for the first time, the meeting has the potential to start a transition from political posturing to governance and finding a path to forward, said Arshi Siddiqui, who is a top aide to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
“The president calling everybody in the White House allowed a real discussion and dialogue to happen and we haven’t seen that, so that’s the significance from that perspective in terms of finally threading the needle, ” said Siddiqui, now a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld.
He said that the Democrats and Republicans seem to be prioritizing a long-term agreement, promising that both parties are interested in a solution that will give the financial markets more security.
Tom Kahn, who was staff director of the House Budget Committee Democrats during the 2011 negotiations, said that staff discussions after the White House meeting will help carve out the positions of both sides.
