The White House has scheduled a Monday night meeting to resume talks about the debt ceiling.
President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) have confirmed they will meet at the White House for the first time since Biden’s trip to Japan for the G-7 summit.
Biden also said he spoke with McCarthy over the phone. The president arrived back in Washington on Sunday night.
Both leaders have said they want to avoid a soft deadline of June 1 for default.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned about default.
“We have learned from past debt limit impasses that waiting until the last minute to suspend or increase the debt limit can cause serious harm to business and consumer confidence, raise short-term borrowing costs for taxpayers, and negatively impact the credit rating of the United States.
“If Congress fails to increase the debt limit, it would cause severe hardship to American families, harm our global leadership position, and raise questions about our ability to defend our national security interests,” Yellen wrote in a letter to Congress earlier this month.
“I respectfully urge Congress to protect the full faith and credit of the United States by acting as soon as possible,” she added.
Wall Street has been watching with concern as the clock ticks. A default would cause chaos in financial markets. It could increase interest rates.
“Everybody is paying attention to this Kevin McCarthy-Joe Biden meeting, waiting for some kind of signal as far as the debt ceiling is concerned,” Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth, told Reuters.
“People are just waiting and watching to see how this plays out.”
The White House said the Biden-McCarthy meeting will start at 5:30 p.m. Eastern.