MNI POLITICAL RISK ANALYSIS - US Daily Brief 17-05-23

Executive Summary:

• Congressional leaders met with President Biden at the White House yesterday for a second round of debt-ceiling crisis talks. The meeting failed to deliver legislation, but the principals hinted at the emergence of a deal and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) appears on the brink of a consequential political victory which could set a precedent for future debt limit negotiations. Full analysis inside.
• Biden will depart today on a truncated Indo-Pacific trip. He will attend the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Hiroshima and hold a bilat with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, but he will scrap the second leg of the trip to Australia and Papua New Guinea in order to continue talks with McCarthy.
• Blinken, delivering testimony to a key Senate panel yesterday, restated that the US for is for “de-risking and diversifying, not decoupling” with China.
• A group of nearly 50 House Democrats have introduced a resolution to expel criminally indicted Rep. George Santos (R-NY) from Congress.
• Former Vice President Mike Pence continues to lay the groundwork for a presidential campaign.
• Poll of the Day: A strong majority of voters across the political spectrum say that a default would be a “major” problem for the US.

Please find the full article attached below:

MNI POLITICAL RISK ANALYSIS - US Daily Brief 17-05-23 .pdf