(Daily Caller) President Joe Biden and Congressional leaders have “serious differences” in negotiating over the debt limit, the White House said Friday.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to go into the details of the differences, but highlighted how Biden’s plan to cut “wasteful spending,” as included in his budget proposal, aims to cut down on subsidies for Big Oil and Big Pharma.

“If Republicans in Congress were serious about cutting the deficit, and about finding a bipartisan agreement … they’d be looking at cutting that type of unnecessary spending,” Jean-Pierre continued. “This is going to continue to be a difficult conversation.”

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has insisted a raise to the debt limit must be tied to spending cuts, including possibly implementing new work requirements for those who receive money from safety net programs.

Biden remains “optimistic” an agreement can be reached before an unprecedented default predicted to come June 1, Jean-Pierre added.