President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy have tentatively agreed to suspend the federal government’s $31.4tn debt ceiling, ending a months-long stalemate.
The deal would suspend the debt limit through January of 2025, while capping spending in the 2024 and 2025 budgets, claw back unused COVID-19 funds, speed up the permitting process for some energy projects and includes some extra work requirements for food aid programs for poor Americans.
The deal will avert an economically destabilising default, so long as it succeeds in passing through the narrowly divided Congress before the Treasury Department runs short of money to cover all its obligations, which it warned on Friday will occur if the debt ceiling issue was not resolved by June 5.
This article was updated 2 months ago
