Joe Biden had planned on taking an extended trip overseas, centering around his G7 trip to Japan.

But that would be right in the middle of debt negotiations with Republicans which he has been avoiding for months. He finally is in talks with the Republicans, but the trip as planned would have taken him away for several days beyond just going to Japan.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) excoriated Biden on Monday saying that running off like that when they needed to get this done showed that his priorities weren’t right and he wasn’t focused on America and what was best for the country.

A) McCarthy on if Biden should leave for G7 trip on Wednesday with debt ceiling looming: I think an American president should focus on the solutions of America. And I think it shows your values and your priorities.

— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) May 15, 2023

McCarthy on if Biden should leave for G7 trip on Wednesday with debt ceiling looming: I think an American president should focus on the solutions of America. And I think it shows your values and your priorities.

That little shaming appears to have done the trick.

Now it looks like Biden has caved to the shaming to finally do his job. It’s now been reported that he will be cutting his trip short and coming back to talk with the Republicans.

🚨Source confirms POTUS will cancel travel to Australia and Papua New Guinea and return to the US after the G7 in Japan – following criticism he planned to be overseas for 8 of the 16 remaining days before the country could default without a deal to raise the debt limit.

— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) May 16, 2023

Source confirms POTUS will cancel travel to Australia and Papua New Guinea and return to the US after the G7 in Japan – following criticism he planned to be overseas for 8 of the 16 remaining days before the country could default without a deal to raise the debt limit.

McCarthy has already won in the sense that the House has already passed a bill that takes default off the table.

"We've already taken default off the table because the House Republicans passed a bill that raised the debt ceiling, limited our future spending, saved taxpayers money … and actually grow our economy."

— @SpeakerMcCarthy pic.twitter.com/t0y3mOtqNu

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) May 16, 2023

The other part of this is Biden doesn’t want to make it appear that it’s his fault if things go south, although it has been his fault — completely — that things have been delayed for so long because he refused to meet. It’s almost as if he wanted to default and do in the economy that he has already so grievously damaged.

McCarthy met with Biden and Kamala Harris for about an hour today, with Biden trying to sound like he’d achieved something before he even had started talking, as he awkwardly laughed.

BIDEN: "Hello, folks. Get a good picture of all of us. We're having a wonderful time. Everything's going well. Ha ha ha."

*awkward silence* pic.twitter.com/SEJRXAPLpM

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) May 16, 2023

“Hello, folks. Get a good picture of all of us. We’re having a wonderful time. Everything’s going well,” Biden said, as he laughed.

McCarthy says WH agreed to streamline negotiations between his office and Biden’s staff to reach a deal – putting McConnell, Schumer, and Jeffries in the back seat – saying this bilateral structure will help move process forward, and its what Trump had to do with Pelosi

— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) May 16, 2023

But McCarthy did sound positive and he indicated he thought they could come to a deal this week, although they had a long way to go yet.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said a deal to raise the debt ceiling and avoid an unprecedented US default is possible by the end of the week but acknowledged that both sides are still far apart https://t.co/HBMVAlKR0i pic.twitter.com/XC7BBrDklb

— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) May 16, 2023

McCarthy said that they’d worked out a streamlined process that would help move things along toward a deal – “putting McConnell, Schumer, and Jeffries in the back seat – saying this bilateral structure will help move the process forward, and it’s what Trump had to do with Pelosi.”

McCarthy pointed out how they could have come to this simple agreement “97 days ago” and then they’d already have this bill “passed.” But the delay has all been on Biden. It’s still obviously a question about whether he’s going to negotiate in good faith. But at least it does seem to be in a more positive place than it was before and that’s all on McCarthy for pushing progress.