Republican lawmakers continue to insist on cuts to social programmes as US debt default looms on the horizon. Tensions are mounting as the deadline for the US to raise its spending limits and avoid a potentially disastrous default looms on the horizon.
Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is meeting US President Joe Biden on Tuesday to discuss potential pathways forward. The United States Department of the Treasury has warned that it could run out of funds to cover the country’s bills as early as June 1.
In US politics, it falls to Congress to raise spending limits and avoid default. McCarthy has said that he will not do so without an agreement to cut spending on social programmes. The result has been a standoff in which little progress has been made, even as experts have warned that a default could have calamitous effects on the US economy.
“Every single day that Congress does not act, we are experiencing increased economic costs that could slow down the US economy,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on
Tuesday. “There is no time to waste.”
President Biden is scheduled to depart on Wednesday for a trip overseas to attend the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Japan. But officials confirmed on Tuesday that he would return over the weekend, nixing previous plans to make stops in Australia and Papua New Guinea in order to resume debt ceiling negotiations in the US.
Here are some of the details about who is involved in the debt ceiling negotiations, what can be expected in the days ahead, and what would it mean for the US to default on its debt… Source: aljazeera.com/news
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
