Feb. 1, 2023: Why you shouldn't expect much from the Biden-McCarthy summit

President Joe Biden and Rep. Kevin McCarthy are scheduled to meet today in the Oval Office at 3:15 p.m.

Keep your expectations in check. 

“Boring,” a top White House official said, when we asked about the first one-on-one session between the president and new House speaker. “First meeting of a hundred to follow.”

McCarthy has set a similarly low bar. “I think the first thing he should do,” McCarthy told reporters on Tuesday, “especially as president of the United States, is say he’s willing to sit down and find a common ground and negotiate together.”

The White House released a memo setting its own limited priorities for the meeting, saying Biden will pose two questions to McCarthy today:

• “Will the Speaker commit to the bedrock principle that the United States will never default on its financial obligations…?”
• “When will Speaker McCarthy and House Republicans release their Budget?”

Playbook co-author Rachael Bade stops by to explain what she'll be watching for when Biden and McCarthy meet later today.

Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter

Raghu Manavalan is the host and senior editor of POLITICO's Playbook Daily Briefing.
Jenny Ament is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.