mccarthy mccarthy ready. >> we had a good first meeting and he shared his perspectives and we agreed to continue the conversation and do this in response to a reasonable way. [indiscernible question] the speaker: i think our meeting was a good meeting. we have different perspectives on this, but i thought this was a good meeting and we promise to continue the conversation. i think at the end of the day, we can find common ground. [indiscernible chatter] the speaker: i'm not putting

words in his mouth and we had an hour of conversation about this and i thought it was a very good discussion and we will continue the discussion and i think there is an opportunity here to come to an agreement on both sides. i think that's what the american people want. they want us to be response i will and sensible about this. and i told the president i would like to see if we can come to the agreement long before the deadline and start working on other things. reporter: where does the budget cuts come from right now? what do the republicans want to cut? the speaker: we are not talking about that and to be able to do this right, i'm not going to negotiate this in the press. we had the conversation together and we will continue that. [indiscernible chatter]

reporter: when are you going to share that big plan? the speaker: i know you all have a job to do, but i don't think i come to an agreement with you. the respectful way is to talk to the president and we have different perspective, but we both laid out some of our vision of where we want to get to and i believe after laying those out, i believe we can find common ground and the american public -- look, i have been very clear, the current path we are on we cannot sustain. we have to change the trajectory on a path to balance. how we get there will be our discussions. reporter: did you talk to president biden about supporting ukraine and do those talks impact support for ukraine?

the speaker: what we talked today is about moving forward and move through on a debt ceiling and get an agreement. i believe if we are able to get to an agreement, we could have it for the next two years. you will see the senate and the house do the job the american public has elected them to do to walk through the appropriation process which is the manner to do it and the american public can see where we are spending our money and find savings for the american taxpayers. these are hardworking taxpayers and there is wasteful washington spending. and i find we can find an agreement there. [indiscernible chatter] reporter: warning against taiwan. is there a warning? the speaker: i don't think they can. [indiscernible chatter]

the speaker: the president and i are trying to find a way we can work together and will continue to do that. [indiscernible chatter] reporter: americans are raising their children and $31 -- 3.1 trillion -- [indiscernible] the speaker: that's why i'm here to make sure their children don't have that. if we continue the trajectory we are on, we will spend $8 trillion just on interest. $8 trillion on interest. the spending that is going on, that's why we have inflation. america's strength will shrink. doesn't matter whether you are a general or not, the greatest threat to america is our debt. our dent is now at 120% of

g.d.p. our debt is larger than our economy. this is higher than any time in american history and higher than at any time in american history when revenues are higher than any other time. so we have a lot of revenue, we just have a spending problem. and i want to find common ground. reporter: can you commit that the u.s. will not default on its obligations? the speaker: if i look at anything and you equate him and you have a child and they spend that limit, you are responsible for paying that credit card. the responsible thing going forward that just raised the limit but look at how you are spending. i look at chuck schumer, he never passed a real budget or appropriation bills but puts a $1.7 trillion omnibus. the american people don't want

that. they don't want government to waste it. so now is a moment in time we have five more months and i just walked out having an hour conversation with this president that i tell you was a good conversation. no agreement, no promises except we will continue the conversation. i want to continuity on behalf of the american people and on behalf of the parents and every taxpayer here that we put ourselves on the trajectory that makes america stronger, secure and balanced. [indiscernible chatter] reporter: what credibility do the republicans have when they talk about deficits? the speaker: that's a great question when renne cans ran up the bill.

the speaker: republicans were in the majority for eight years and democrats last four years. last four years they increased discretionary over $400 billion. when republicans were in majority twice that long, it went down $10 billion. if the credibility lacks with the with the republicans. if you want to argue where the past president, continue down the same path, this presidency debt will be much greater than before. i'm not in a place and i'm in a place of being the speaker of the house. my role right now is to make sure we have a sensible, responsible ability to raise the debt ceiling but not continue this run-away spending. this is a moment in time that for all american households,

every family does this, every business does this, every state government, every county government, when they have spent too much, they will look where waste is at and investments would be better and sit down and talk in an adult fashion. that's the conversation i just had with the president and that's the conversation i want to continue so we can come to an agreement. reporter: would you need actual spending cuts? the speaker: i don't need a commission to tell me where there is waste, fraud and abuse or spending too much and $31 trillion debt and no one needs to tell us we have spent too much, just like any family. we don't need a commission to tell us to do our job. for the next five weeks and hopefully five months, hopefully

it doesn't take that long, hopefully we can sit down and solve this problem. [indiscernible question] the speaker: i did not talk about classified documents. i came down here to talk about the debt ceiling and that's where we spent our time. [indiscernible question] the speaker: right now there is a conversation that would cause the debt ceiling and spending. [indiscernible] the speaker: this is our first conversation about this and talked about a lot different ideas and i don't want to give

false impression, he gave me his perspectives and i gave him our perspectives. families, relationships, you can find common ground. there is nothing in there that at the end of the day we can come to an agreement that makes america stronger and path to balance and exactly what the american people are asking us to do. reporter: even if you reach an agreement with the president, are you concerned that members of your own party aren't going to go along with it? the speaker: no. the republicans are united. had we not be elected to the majority, we wouldn't have that discussion. we wouldn't have an advocate to curb the waste. this is exactly how government in america is designed and you have to find compromise.

and have the republicans power in the house. the democrats have a small majority and democrats have a president. we all are americans. our debt is too high, we have waste in our government. and we need to sit down together in a responsible way to put us on a path to balance that will make the future of america stronger so the next century will be hours -- ours. thank you. [indiscernible chatter.