The White House and congressional Republicans have agreed to change the structure of their debt ceiling negotiations, but a deal still eludes them.

“The structure of how we negotiate has improved,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told reporters Tuesday outside the West Wing. “It is possible to get a deal by the end of the week.”

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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) will now take a step back from the discussions one week after the so-called Big Four sat down for the first time. Tuesday’s gathering of the Big Four lasted less than an hour.

“President [Joe Biden] agreed to appoint a couple of people from his administration to sit down and negotiate directly with my team,” McCarthy said. “I found that to be productive.”

Presidential counselor Steve Ricchetti and White House Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young will represent Biden.

McCarthy underscored that the White House and congressional Republicans remain far apart on a deal but that it is “not that difficult.”

“We’ve already taken default off the table because the House Republicans passed a bill that raised the debt ceiling, limited our future spending, saved taxpayers money … and actually grow our economy,” he said.

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Earlier Tuesday, the White House indicated Biden would no longer travel to Australia and Papua New Guinea next week and instead will return from the Group of Seven leaders meeting in Japan on Sunday. He leaves for Hiroshima on Wednesday.

“The president emphasized that while more work remains on a range of difficult issues, he’s optimistic that there is a path to a responsible, bipartisan budget agreement if both sides negotiate in good faith and recognize that neither side will get everything it wants,” the White House said.