Call it the luck of the Irish: President Joe Biden, a Democrat, hinted at agreeing to negotiate with Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on the debt ceiling during remarks at the annual Friends of Ireland luncheon, a shift from Biden’s initial position of wanting to pass a clean debt ceiling increase with no negotiations.
The two U.S. leaders of Irish descent gathered with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and congressional leaders at the Capitol on Friday for a themed lunch during which they did not mention the brewing debt ceiling disagreement specifically but appeared to allude to the looming fight to raise the nation’s borrowing limit.
McCarthy, who spoke first, put the pressure on Biden by harkening back to the days of the first Irish luncheon in the 1980s, featuring Republican President Ronald Reagan and Democrat House Speaker Tip O’Neill.
“Almost every year since, every speaker, every president, and every prime minister has set aside the issues of the day to gather to…
