WASHINGTON — A planned meeting Friday between President Joe Biden and congressional leaders to negotiate raising the government’s borrowing limit was postponed. The congressional leaders will now meet with the president early next week.

The group only has a few weeks to strike a deal or the government will default on what it owes. 

Members of the Kentucky delegation are weighing in on the debt ceiling standoff. 

The White House said that the debt ceiling should be raised without any other considerations. The Kentucky delegation’s only Democrat, Rep. Morgan McGarvey of Louisville, agrees. 

“We have to make sure that we are paying that debt, that we are raising the debt limit to pay for things we have already purchased,” McGarvey told Spectrum News. 

When it comes to spending cuts, McGarvey said that is a necessary but separate conversation. 

“Should we be talking about spending? Of course,” McGarvey said. “That’s why we have an appropriations process.” 

House Republicans are using the debt ceiling deadline to get what they want when it comes to spending cuts. The House passed a bill that would raise the debt ceiling, but it includes trillions of dollars in cuts to areas that are important to Democrats and has no chance of passing in the Democratic-led Senate. The House bill includes repealing clean energy tax cuts, cutting back funding for the IRS and blocking Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. 

Republican Rep. Andy Barr of Lexington supports that House bill. In an interview with Spectrum News, Barr said “the president needs to negotiate” with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., adding he believes making cuts now is the responsible decision. 

“Everybody recognizes that we have to avoid default and that the full faith and credit is on the line,” Barr said. “But the full faith and credit of the United States is at risk not just in the short term but in the medium term and long term and that’s why I supported the bill that raised the debt limit but also reformed our overspending in Washington."

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who represents northern Kentucky, may have found the most creative way to make his opinion known. The MIT graduate has been wearing a handmade debt clock for months. He said he created it to “induce a little bit of anxiety” about the debt the United States has accumulated. It ticks up in real time. 

Massie recently upgraded his debt clock pin to a 3D printed version. 

“This is version 2.0 of the debt badge. It’s got a dimmer switch on it so now it won’t blind your date at the movies,” Massie joked. 

Massie said he thinks McCarthy is handling negotiations well so far, and that he believes spending cuts are a necessary part of the discussion.

The Treasury Department said that if Congress doesn’t lift the debt ceiling, the United States could default on what it owes as early as June 1.