[MAIL] U.S. President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy have reached a deal to raise the federal government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, ending a months-long stalemate.
The deal would avert an economically destabilizing default, so long as they succeed in passing it through the narrowly divided Congress before the Treasury Department runs short of money to cover all its obligations, which it warned Friday will occur if the debt ceiling is not raised by June 5.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy came out of negotiations to address the press on Saturday night at 9:15pm.
'We have reached agreement in principle - a deal worthy of the American people to lift people out of poverty with no new taxes or government overreach programs,' McCarthy explained.
'I expect to finish the writing of the bill and then post the text of it tomorrow for it to be voted upon on Wednesday,' he said without taking any questions from reporters.
'Big, thorny issues remain,' one of the top negotiators, Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., told reporters in the evening. Some of those outstanding issues, McHenry said then, 'the president and speaker have to resolve at that level.'
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