Array
President Biden has invited House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to the White House to discuss raising the nation’s borrowing limit as the Treasury Department indicates that the US could default on its debt earlier than expected.
Biden, 80, reached out to McCarthy, 58, to set a meeting with other lawmakers as the House speaker visited Jerusalem on Monday in celebration of Israel’s 75th anniversary, the White House said in a statement.
Aside from McCarthy, Biden also reached out to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). Biden told them that he wants to discuss passing a clean debt ceiling bill, according to CNN.
The meeting is expected to take place on May 9.
The president’s overtures to McCarthy came on the same day that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned in a statement to lawmakers that the US government could default as early as June 1 if Congress does not raise the debt ceiling.
“In My January 13 letter, I noted that it was unlikely that cash and extraordinary measures would be exhausted before early June. After reviewing recent federal tax receipts, our best estimate is that we will be unable to continue to satisfy all of the government’s obligations by early June, and potentially as early as June 1, if Congress does not raise or suspend the debt limit before that time,” Yellen wrote in her Monday letter.
