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President Joe Biden's meeting Tuesday with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other congressional leaders was originally scheduled for last week, but both sides decided to postpone in order to give the staff-level talks space to proceed.

Ahead of the White House meeting, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell criticized Biden for only scheduling two meetings with McCarthy and other congressional leaders in recent months as the pressure for resolving the debt ceiling crisis has increased.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has tried to drive home the point that Democrats see any possible agreement on spending cuts as a separate negotiation from the debt ceiling talks, which he insists must be increased without conditions.

“The talks are separate but simultaneous to our responsibility to avoid default,” Schumer said, adding, “Democrats welcome the debate about this year’s budget. For decades, both parties have regularly worked out their differences about spending and revenues throughout the appropriations process. That’s what’s happening right now, while we separately but simultaneously work to avoid default.”

Aides meeting at the staff level have been working to identify issues with the highest potential for progress ahead of Tuesday’s meeting in the Oval Office. That includes limits on federal spending, clawing back some unspent pandemic aid and changes to permitting rules for domestic energy production.

It also includes the potential for stricter work requirements for some government aid programs, something Republicans have proposed in the discussions.

Biden sounded guardedly open to such a provision Sunday.

“I voted for tougher aid programs (that are) in the law now, but for Medicaid, it’s a different story,” he said. “And so I’m waiting to hear what their exact proposal is.”

Other Democrats have balked at the idea of bolstering work requirements.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries has told his colleagues he won’t accept new work requirements for social safety net programs, according to a person familiar with the matter. And Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin said it’s “ridiculous” that work requirements are at the center of debt ceiling negotiations.

McCarthy, however, has said the issue is a red line.

What other lawmakers are saying: House Majority Leader Steve Scalise on Tuesday acknowledged that there is a chance the bill House Republicans passed to raise the nation’s debt ceiling will not be the final product if negotiations yield a deal both sides can agree to.

But he also questioned how seriously Democrats are taking negotiations, saying he hopes Biden comes into the meeting and either says he supports the House GOP plan or has specific proposals as a counteroffer.

Louisiana Republican Rep. Garret Graves, McCarthy’s top confidant on the debt ceiling, told CNN’s Manu Raju that “there’s still a lot of distance” between the House Republicans and the White House on the debt limit.

Jeffries has indicated that he believes a deal could include a debt limit increase through 2024 and changes to permitting laws to ease the approval of energy projects. He also thinks there could be some caps on discretionary spending and some Covid funds could be reclaimed.

Shalanda Young, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, outlined the impact of proposed Republican spending cuts in a new memo Tuesday, warning that if the GOP preserves funding for the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security as they’ve suggested, it could lead to a 30% cut in spending for other federal agencies

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