Biden, McCarthy, once breakfast mates, wrangle over US debt

By LISA MASCARO and SEUNG MIN KIM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Not long ago, Joe Biden and Republican leader Kevin McCarthy used to have breakfast together in the then-vice president’s home. Biden was intent in those days on “keeping up relations with the opposition party,” as he writes in his memoir. The new House majority leader often arrived with fellow GOP lawmakers in tow. But those morning meetings in early 2015 seem a political lifetime ago. The Democratic president and the House speaker are preparing for their first official visit at the White House on Wednesday, ahead of a looming debt crisis. And Biden is in no mood to give ground on budget cuts the Republicans are demanding.