House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Sunday he is looking forward to discussing with President Joe Biden a reasonable and responsible way that we can lift the debt ceiling when the two meet Wednesday for their first sit-down at the White House since McCarthy was elected to the post. McCarthy, R-Calif., said he wants to address spending cuts along with raising the debt limit, even though the White House has ruled out linking those two issues together as the government tries to avoid a potentially devastating financial default. The speaker pledged that cuts to Social Security and Medicare would be off the table. I know the president said he didn't want to have any discussion (on cuts), but I think it's very important that our whole government is designed to find compromise, McCarthy told CBS' Face the Nation. I want to sit down together, work out an agreement that we can move forward to put us on a path to balance and at the same time not put any of our debt in jeopardy at the same ...
President Joe Biden hosted the Democratic congressional leaders Tuesday at the White House as they face a new era of divided government in Washington, staring down a debt ceiling crisis, the Russian war in Ukraine and their own party priorities running up against a new House Republican majority eager for confrontation. The president and top congressional Democrats used the gathering in the Roosevelt Room at the White House to project a unified front against Republicans who are threatening a showdown over raising the nation's borrowing authority. The White House has stressed repeatedly that it wants Congress to lift the debt ceiling without conditions, and Democrats tried shift the onus onto House Republicans to put their cards on the table, rather than enter into any negotiations with a GOP that has yet to spell out how much and what they want to cut. As the meeting began, Biden said Democrats were eager to talk about extreme Republican economic plans. Apparently they're genuinely
While Democrats have reason to rejoice, the fate of President Joe Biden's legislative agenda still hangs in the balance and the prospect of government gridlock looms
The nation's gross national debt has surpassed USD31 trillion, according to a US Treasury report released Tuesday that logs America's daily finances. Edging closer to the statutory ceiling of roughly USD31.4 trillion, an artificial cap Congress placed on the US government's ability to borrow, the debt numbers hit an already tenuous economy facing high inflation, rising interest rates and a strong US dollar. And while President Joe Biden has touted his administration's deficit reduction efforts this year and recently signed the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which attempts to tame 40-year high price increases caused by a variety of economic factors, economists say the latest debt numbers are a cause for concern. Owen Zidar, a Princeton economist, said rising interest rates will exacerbate the nation's growing debt issues and make the debt itself more costly. The Federal Reserve has raised rates several times this year in an effort to combat inflation. Zidar said the debt "should
Rupee notches up gains as dollar index eases; OPEC meet in focus
The US Treasury Secretary had warned Congress three weeks ago that the Treasury would run out of maneuvering room by mid-October
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is warning Congress that she will run out of maneuvering room to prevent the US from broaching the government's borrowing limit in October
In 2020, the US national debt was $23.4 trillion, that was $72,309 in debt per person
The spike in the deficit means that federal debt will exceed annual gross domestic product next year
With the economy normalising, the case for creative policies seems weaker. The US should consider borrowing at longer horizons