WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Negotiators’ continuing failure to reach an agreement to lift the U.S. debt ceiling forced the House of Representatives’ new China committee to postpone a planned trip to Taiwan, the committee’s chairman, Republican Representative Mike Gallagher, told reporters on Thursday.
The House adjourned on Thursday and was not due to return until June 5, four days after June 1, the day the Treasury Department has warned the government could run short of funds to cover all its expenses.
Several members of the House’s Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party were to have left on the Taiwan trip this weekend.
As talks between the leaders of the Republican-majority House and White House continued, House members were told to be prepared to return to the Capitol to vote on potential legislation to raise the debt limit with 24 hours’ notice.
High-profile visits to Taiwan by U.S. officials can elicit forceful reactions from Beijing, which considers Taiwan part of its territory. China’s military conducted large-scale exercises, fired missiles over Taiwan and cut military contacts with Washington after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the self-governed island in August 2022.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
