WASHINGTON —

President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached an "agreement in principle" late Saturday as they raced to strike a deal to limit federal spending and resolve the looming debt crisis ahead of a June 5 deadline, the House speaker said.

Video above: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaks after agreement in principle made

A deal would avert a catastrophic U.S. default, but risks angering both Democratic and Republican sides with the concessions made to reach it.

The Democratic president and Republican speaker reached the agreement after the two spoke earlier Saturday evening by phone, said McCarthy, speaking Saturday night. The country and the world have been watching and waiting for a resolution to the political standoff that threatened the U.S. and global economy.

With the outlines of a deal in place, the legislative package could be drafted and shared with lawmakers in time for votes early next week in the House and later in the Senate.

Central to the package is a two-year budget deal that would hold spending flat for 2024 and impose limits for 2025 in exchange for raising the debt limit for two years, pushing the volatile political issue past the next presidential election.

Negotiators agreed to some Republican demands for enhanced work requirements on recipients of food stamps that had sparked an uproar from House Democrats as a non-starter.

Video above: Why the United States has a debt ceiling

Biden also spoke earlier in the day with Democratic leaders in Congress to discuss the status of the talks, according to three people familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The Republican House speaker had gathered top allies behind closed doors at the Capitol as negotiators pushed for a deal that would raise the nation's borrowing limit and avoid a first-ever default on the federal debt, while also making spending cuts that House Republicans are demanding.

As he arrived at the Capitol early in the day, McCarthy said that Republican negotiators were "closer to an agreement."

McCarthy's comments had echoed the latest public assessment from Biden, who said Friday evening that bargainers were "very close." Biden and McCarthy last met face-to-face on the matter Monday.

Their new discussion Saturday by phone came after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress that the United States could default on its debt obligations by June 5 – four days later than previously estimated – if lawmakers do not act in time to raise the federal debt ceiling. The extended "X-date" gives the two sides a bit of extra time as they scramble for a deal.

But as another day dragged on with financial disaster looming closer, it had appeared some of the problems over policy issues that dogged talks all week remained unresolved.

Both sides have suggested one of the main holdups is a GOP effort to expand existing work requirements for recipients of food stamps and other federal aid programs, a longtime Republican goal that Democrats have strenuously opposed. The White House said the Republican proposals were "cruel and senseless."

They also appeared to still be laboring over a compromise on federal permitting changes that would ease regulations for developing oil, gas and renewable energy projects and foster new transmission line connections.

McCarthy, who dashed out before the lunch hour Saturday and arrived back at the Capitol with a big box of takeout, declined to elaborate on those discussions. One of his negotiators, Louisiana Rep. Garret Graves, said there was "not a chance" that Republicans might relent on the work requirements issue.

Video above: What is the debt ceiling?

Americans and the world were uneasily watching the negotiating brinkmanship that could throw the U.S. economy into chaos and sap world confidence in the nation's leadership. House negotiators left the Capitol at 2 a.m. the night before, only to return hours later.

Failure to lift the borrowing limit, now $31 trillion, to pay the nation's incurred bills, would send shockwaves through the U.S. and global economy. Yellen said failure to act by the new date would "cause severe hardship to American families, harm our global leadership position and raise questions about our ability to defend our national security interests."

Anxious retirees and others were already making contingency plans for missed checks, with the next Social Security payments due next week.

The president, spending part of the weekend at Camp David, continued to talk with his negotiating team multiple times a day, signing off on offers and counteroffers. Biden was upbeat as he departed the White House on Friday evening, saying: "It's very close, and I'm optimistic."

All sides also are hearing from other lawmakers, including Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, the independent from Arizona, who has been in the center of big policy debates, and Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.

Biden and McCarthy have seemed to be narrowing on a two-year budget-cutting deal that would also extend the debt limit into 2025 past the next presidential election. The contours of the deal have been taking shape to cut spending for 2024 and impose a 1% cap on spending growth for 2025.

Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the Republican whip who is in charge of counting the votes from McCarthy's slim majority to ensure passage of any deal, said he is telling rank-and-file lawmakers not to believe what they're hearing until party leaders deliver the news about any deal.

Any deal would need to be a political compromise in a divided Congress. Many of the hard-right Trump-aligned Republicans in Congress have long been skeptical of the Treasury's projections, and they are pressing McCarthy to hold out.

Video above: What could happen if U.S. defaults

"We're constantly in touch with our members, letting them know that what is being reported, you should not accept that," Emmer said. "If there's an agreement, we will let them know."

The Republican proposal on work requirements would save $11 billion over 10 years by raising the maximum age for existing standards that require able-bodied adults who do not live with dependents to work or attend training programs.

Current law applies those standards to recipients under the age of 50. The GOP plan would raise the age to include adults 55 and under. It would lower the number of exemptions that states can grant to some recipients subject to those requirements.

Biden has said the work requirements for Medicaid would be a non-starter. He initially seemed potentially open to negotiating minor changes on food stamps, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, but his position has appeared to harden.

Lawmakers are not expected to return to work from the Memorial Day weekend before Tuesday, at the earliest, and McCarthy has promised lawmakers he will abide by the rule to post any bill for 72 hours before voting.

The Democratic-held Senate has largely stayed out of the negotiations, leaving the talks to Biden and McCarthy. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has pledged to move quickly to send a compromise package to Biden's desk.

Weeks of talks have failed to produce a deal in part because the Biden administration resisted for months on negotiating with McCarthy, arguing that the country's full faith and credit should not be used as leverage to extract other partisan priorities.

But House Republicans united behind a plan to cut spending, narrowly passing legislation in late April that would raise the debt ceiling in exchange for the spending reductions.

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Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Stephen Groves, Fatima Hussein, Farnoush Amiri, Seung Min Kim and videojournalist Rick Gentilo contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON —

Debt ceiling negotiations are locked on a classic problem that has vexed, divided and disrupted Washington before: Republicans led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy want to roll back federal government spending, while President Joe Biden and other Democrats do not.

Time is short to strike a deal before a deadline as soon as June 1, when the Treasury says the government risks running out of cash to pay its bills. Negotiators are expected to convene Wednesday for another round of talks as frustration mounts. The political standoff is edging the country closer to a crisis, roiling financial markets and threatening the global economy.

"They've got to acknowledge that we're spending too much," said McCarthy.

Cheered on by a hard-charging conservative House majority that hoisted him to power, McCarthy, R-Calif., was not swayed by a White House counter-offer to freeze spending instead. "A freeze is not going to work," McCarthy said.

Video above: Why the United States has a debt ceiling

The longstanding Washington debate over the size and scope of the federal government now has just days to be resolved. Failure to raise the nation's debt ceiling, now at $31 trillion, would risk a potentially chaotic federal default, almost certain to inflict economic turmoil at home and abroad.

From the White House, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said it was "ridiculous" to suggest Biden wasn't acting with urgency after Republicans complained about the pace. "He wants to see this done as soon as possible," she said.

Dragging into a third week, the negotiations over raising the nation's debt limit were never supposed to arrive at this point.

The White House insisted early on it was unwilling to barter over the need to pay the nation's bills, demanding that Congress simply lift the ceiling as it has done many times before with no strings attached.

But the newly elected speaker visited Biden at the Oval Office in February, urging the president to come to the negotiating table on a budget package that would reduce spending and the nation's ballooning deficits in exchange for the vote to allow future debt.

"I told the president Feb. 1," McCarthy recounted. "I said, Mr. President, you're not going to raise taxes. You've got to spend less money than was spent this year."

Negotiations are focused on finding agreement on a 2024 budget year limit. Republicans have set aside their demand to roll back spending to 2022 levels, but say that next year's government spending must be less than it is now. But the White House instead offered to freeze spending at current 2023 numbers.

"We are holding firm to the speaker's red line," said a top Republican negotiator, Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana. "Which is that we will not do a deal unless it spends less money than we're spending this year."

By sparing defense and some veterans accounts from reductions, the Republicans would shift the bulk of spending reductions to other federal programs, an approach that breaks a tradition in Congress of budget cap parity.

Graves said there were still "significant gaps" between his side and the White House.

Agreement on that topline spending level is vital. It would enable McCarthy to deliver spending restraints for conservatives while not being so severe that it would chase off the Democratic votes that would be needed in the divided Congress to pass any bill.

But what, if anything, Democrats would get if they agreed to deeper spending cuts than Biden's team has proposed is uncertain.

Asked what concessions the Republicans were willing to give, McCarthy quipped, "We're going to raise the debt ceiling."

The White House has continued to argue that deficits can be reduced by ending tax breaks for wealthier households and some corporations, but McCarthy said he told the president at their February meeting that raising revenue from tax hikes is off the table.

The negotiators are now also debating the duration of a 1% cap on annual spending growth going forward, with Republicans dropping their demand for a 10-year cap to six years, but the White House offering only one year, for 2025.

Typically, the debt ceiling has been lifted for the duration of a budget deal, and in this negotiation the White House is angling for a two-year agreement that would push past the presidential elections.

Past debt ceiling talks have produced budget agreements in which both parties have won some concessions in a give and take. Both have wanted to raise the debt limit to prevent a economy-shattering federal default.

Graves explained the Republican position this time around. Since Biden already boosted federal spending in significant ways with his COVID-19 rescue package, Inflation Reduction Act and other bills, "they've already got theirs."

"We're willing to give them an increase in debt ceiling. That's what they're getting," he said.

And yet, the Republicans are pushing additional priorities as the negotiators focus on the $100 billion-plus difference between the 2022 and 2023 spending plans as a place to cut.

Republicans want to beef up work requirements for government aid to recipients of food stamps, cash assistance and the Medicaid health care program that the Biden administration says would impact millions of people who depend on assistance.

All sides have been eyeing the potential for the package to include a framework to ease federal regulations and speed energy project developments. They are all but certain to claw back some $30 billion in unspent COVID-19 funds now that the pandemic emergency has officially lifted.

The White House has countered by keeping defense and nondefense spending flat next year, which would save $90 billion in the 2024 budget year and $1 trillion over 10 years.

Video below: President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy offered remarks from the Oval Office on Monday

The House speaker promised lawmakers he will abide by the rule to post any bill for 72 hours before voting, making any action doubtful until the weekend — just days before the potential deadline. The Senate would also have to pass the package before it could go to Biden's desk to be signed.

McCarthy faces a hard-right flank in his own party that is likely to reject any deal, and that has led some Democrats to encourage Biden to resist any compromise with the Republicans and simply invoke the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling on his own, an unprecedented and legally fraught action the president has resisted for now.

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Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri, Stephen Groves, Kevin Freking, Chris Megerian, Darlene Superville and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON —

President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met Monday after a weekend of on again, off again negotiations over raising the nation's debt ceiling and mere days before the government could reach a “hard deadline” and run out of cash to pay its bills.

The two sides are working to reach a budget compromise before June 1, when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said the country could default.

Video above: What could happen if U.S. defaults?

Speaking to reporters after Monday's meeting, McCarthy said the two sides had not yet reached an agreement but the meeting was “productive.” In his own statement following the Oval Office sit-down, Biden echoed those sentiments.

“We reiterated once again that default is off the table and the only way to move forward is in good faith toward a bipartisan agreement,” Biden said. Their handpicked negotiators will continue to meet.

McCarthy and Republicans are insisting on spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt limit. Biden has come to the negotiating table after balking for months but says the GOP lawmakers will have to back off their “extreme positions.”

On Sunday evening, negotiators met again and appeared to be narrowing on a 2024 budget year cap that could resolve the standoff. After speaking with Biden by phone as the president traveled home from a trip to Asia, McCarthy sounded somewhat optimistic. But he warned that "there's no agreement on anything.”

A look at the negotiations and why they are happening:

WHAT IS THE DEBT CEILING FIGHT ALL ABOUT?

Once a routine act by Congress, the vote to raise the debt ceiling allows the Treasury Department to continue borrowing money to pay the nation's already incurred bills.

The vote in more recent times has been used as a political leverage point, a must-pass bill that can be loaded up with other priorities.

Video below: President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy comment on debt ceiling negotiations

House Republicans, newly empowered in the majority this Congress, are refusing to raise the debt limit unless Biden and the Democrats impose federal spending cuts and restrictions on future spending.

The Republicans say the nation's debt, now at $31 trillion, is unsustainable. They also want to attach other priorities, including stiffer work requirements on recipients of government cash aid, food stamps and the Medicaid health care program. Many Democrats oppose those requirements.

Biden had insisted on approving the debt ceiling with no strings attached, saying the U.S. always pays its bills and defaulting on debt is non-negotiable.

But facing a deadline as soon as June 1, when Treasury says it will run out of money, Biden launched negotiations with Republicans.

IS IT CLOSE TO BEING RESOLVED?

There are positive signs, though there have been rocky moments in the talks.

Start-stop negotiations were back on track late Sunday, and all sides appear to be racing toward a deal. Negotiators left the Capitol after 8 p.m. Sunday and said they would keep working.

McCarthy said after his call with Biden that "I think we can solve some of these problems if he understands what we're looking at."

The speaker added: "We have to spend less money than we spent last year."

Biden, for his part, said at a press conference in Japan before departing: "I think that we can reach an agreement."

But reaching an agreement is only part of the challenge. Any deal will also have to pass the House and Senate with significant bipartisan support. Many expect that buy-in from the White House and GOP leadership will be enough to muscle it over the finish line.

WHAT ARE THE HANGUPS?

Republicans want to roll back spending to 2022 levels and cap future spending for the next decade.

Democrats aren't willing to go that far to cut federal spending. The White House has instead proposed holding spending flat at the current 2023 levels.

Video below: Here's what a debt ceiling failure could mean for you

There are also policy priorities under consideration, including steps that could help speed the construction and development of energy projects that both Republicans and some Democrats want.

Democrats have strenuously objected to a Republican push to impose stiffer work requirements on people who receive government aid through food stamps, Medicaid health care and the cash assistance programs.

Biden, though, has kept the door open to some discussion over work requirements.

WHAT HAPPENS IF THEY DON'T RAISE THE DEBT CEILING?

A government default would be unprecedented and devastating to the nation's economy. Yellen and economic experts have said it could be "catastrophic."

There isn't really a blueprint for what would happen. But it would have far-reaching effects.

Yellen has said it would destroy jobs and businesses and leave millions of families who rely on federal government payments to "likely go unpaid," including Social Security beneficiaries, veterans and military families.

Video below: Financial research firm on what government default could mean

More than 8 million people could lose their jobs, government officials estimate. The economy could nosedive into a recession.

"A default could cause widespread suffering as Americans lose the income that they need to get by," she said. Disruptions to federal government operations would impact "air traffic control and law enforcement, border security and national defense, and food safety."

IS THERE A BACKUP PLAN IF TALKS FAIL?

Some Democrats have proposed that they could raise the debt ceiling on their own, without help from Republicans.

Progressives have urged Biden to invoke a clause in the Constitution's 14th Amendment that says the validity of the public debt in the United States "shall not be questioned." Default, the argument goes, is therefore unconstitutional.

Supporters of unilateral action say Biden already has the authority to effectively nullify the debt limit if Congress won't raise it, so that the validity of the country's debt isn't questioned. The president said Sunday that it's a "question that I think is unresolved," as to whether he could act alone, adding he hopes to try to get the judiciary to weigh in on the notion for the future.

In Congress, meanwhile, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has launched a process that would "discharge" the issue to the House floor and force a vote on raising the debt limit.

It's a cumbersome legislative procedure, but Jeffries urged House Democrats to sign on to the measure in hopes of gathering the majority needed to trigger a vote.

The challenge for Democrats is that they have only 213 members on their side — five short of the 218 needed for a majority.

Getting five Republicans to cross over and join the effort won't be easy. Signing onto a "discharge" petition from the minority is seen as a major affront to party leadership, particularly on an issue as important as the debt ceiling. Few Republicans, if any, may be willing to suffer the consequences.

President Joe Biden said Sunday that Republicans in the U.S. House must move off their "extreme positions" on the now-stalled talks over raising America's debt limit and that there would be no agreement to avert a catastrophic default only on their terms.

In an effort to get negotiations back on track, Biden planned to call U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., from Air Force One on the way back to Washington after a Group of Seven summit in Japan. World leaders at the gathering expressed concern about the dire global ramifications if the United States were to be unable to meet its financial obligations.

“It’s time for Republicans to accept that there is no bipartisan deal to be made solely, solely, on their partisan terms," Biden said at a closing news conference before he departed. The president said he had done his part in attempting to raise the borrowing limit so the U.S. government can keep paying its bills, by agreeing to significant cuts in spending. “Now it’s time for the other side to move from their extreme position,” he said.

Biden had been scheduled to travel from Hiroshima to Papua New Guinea and Australia, but cut short his trip in light of the strained negotiations with Capitol Hill.

“My guess is he’s going to want to deal directly with me in making sure we’re all on the same page," Biden said about McCarthy before their expected conversation. A compromise remained within reach, the president said, despite their differences.

Video below: Biden delivers debt ceiling warning while sharply criticizing Republicans

“I’m hoping that Speaker McCarthy is just waiting to negotiate with me when I get home," he said. “I’m waiting to find out.”

GOP lawmakers are holding tight to demands for sharp spending cuts, rejecting the alternatives proposed by the White House for reducing deficits.

McCarthy tweeted on Saturday that it was the White House that was “moving backward in negotiations.” The speaker contended that Biden would “rather be the first president in history to default on the debt than to risk upsetting the radical socialists who are calling the shots for Democrats right now.”

Republicans want work requirements on the Medicaid health care program, though the Biden administration has countered that millions of people could lose coverage. The GOP also introduced new cuts to food aid by restricting states’ ability to waive work requirements in places with high joblessness. That idea, when floated under President Donald Trump, was estimated to cause 700,000 people to lose their food benefits.

GOP lawmakers are also seeking cuts in IRS money and asking the White House to accept parts of their proposed immigration overhaul.

The White House has countered by keeping defense and nondefense spending flat next year, which would save $90 billion in the 2024 budget year and $1 trillion over 10 years.

“I think that we can reach an agreement,” Biden said, though he added this about Republicans: "I can’t guarantee that they wouldn’t force a default by doing something outrageous.”

Video below: President Biden says he is willing to cut spending in deal to raise the debt ceiling

Republicans had also rejected White House proposals to raise revenues in order to further lower deficits. Among the proposals the GOP objects to are policies that would enable Medicare to pay less for prescription drugs and the closing of a dozen tax loopholes. Republicans have refused to roll back the Trump-era tax breaks on corporations and wealthy households as Biden’s own budget has proposed.

Biden, nonetheless, insisted that “revenue is not off the table.”

For months, Biden had refused to engage in talks over the debt limit, contending that Republicans in Congress were trying to use the borrowing limit vote as leverage to extract administration concessions on other policy priorities.

But with the U.S. Treasury Department saying that it could run out of cash as soon as June 1 and Republicans putting their own legislation on the table, the White House launched talks on a budget deal that could accompany an increase in the debt limit.

The decision to set up a call with McCarthy came after another start-stop day with no outward signs of progress. Food was brought to the negotiating room at the Capitol on Saturday morning, only to be carted away hours later. Talks, though, could resume later Sunday after the Biden-McCarthy conversation.

Biden tried to assure leaders attending the meeting of the world’s most powerful democracies that the United States would not default. U.S. officials said leaders were concerned, but largely confident that Biden and American lawmakers would resolve the crisis.

The president, though, said he was ruling out the possibility of taking action on his own to avoid a default. Any such steps, including suggestions to invoke the 14th Amendment as a solution, would become tied up in the courts.

“That’s a question that I think is unresolved," Biden said, adding he hopes to try to get the judiciary to weigh in on the notion for the future.

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Associated Press writer Colleen Long in Washington contributed to this report.

The Senate approved legislation Tuesday to lift the nation's debt limit by $2.5 trillion under a deal struck between party leaders, defusing a volatile issue until after next year's midterm elections while saddling majority Democrats with a tough vote.The 50-49 party line vote came just one day shy of a deadline set by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who warned last month that she was running out of maneuvering room to avoid the nation's first-ever default. The measure now moves to the House where a vote could come as early as Tuesday night, sending it to President Joe Biden's desk."This is about paying debt accumulated by both parties, so I'm pleased Republicans and Democrats came together," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said of the agreement, which created a workaround that allowed Democrats to avoid a Republican filibuster. Despite a seemingly straightforward name, the nation's debt limit does little to curtail future debt. Established in 1917, it instead serves as a brake on spending decisions already approved by Congress and the White House — some decades ago — that if left unpaid could cripple markets, send the economy into a tailspin and shake global confidence in the U.S. That hasn't stopped Republican saber-rattling. For months, they've used the debt limit to attack Democrats' big-spending social and environmental agenda while pledging to staunchly oppose the current effort to increase the threshold. As recently as October, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would not "be a party to any future effort to mitigate the consequences of Democratic mismanagement."In striking a deal, McConnell backtracked on his word. But he also got much of what he wanted: Democrats taking a politically difficult vote without Republican support, while increasing the limit by a staggering dollar figure that is sure to appear in future attack ads."If they jam through another taxing and spending spree this massive debt increase will just be the beginning," the Kentucky Republican said Tuesday.The decision, however, has proven unpopular with some Republicans, particularly Donald Trump. The former president has railed against the deal repeatedly, calling McConnell a "Broken Old Crow" who "didn't have the guts to play the Debt Ceiling card, which would have given the Republicans a complete victory on virtually everything." "GET RID OF MITCH!" Trump said in a statement issued Sunday. Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah also criticized the intricate process Schumer and McConnell agreed to, which he warned could be used in the future to "launder" potentially unpopular votes while bypassing the Senate's normal mode of operation. Under the agreement, an amendment was made to an unrelated Medicare bill that passed last week with Republican votes. It created a one-time, fast-track process for raising the debt limit that allowed Democrats to do so with a simple majority, bypassing the 60 vote threshold to avoid a GOP filibuster.Lee said the process was intended to make the Republican votes last week "appear as something other than helping Democrats raise the debt ceiling," which he said Republican leadership "committed, in writing no less, not to do." Yet Republican arguments against debt limit increases often ignore inconvenient facts. The nation's current debt load of $28.9 trillion has been racking up for decades. Major drivers include popular spending programs, like Social Security and Medicare, interest on the debt and recent COVID-19 relief packages. But taxation is also a major factor, and a series of tax cuts enacted by Republican presidents in recent decades has added to it, too.The national debt includes $7.8 trillion heaped onto the pile during Trump's four-year presidency, an analysis of Treasury records shows. The GOP-championed 2017 tax cut is projected to add between $1 trillion and $2 trillion to the debt, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

WASHINGTON —

The Senate voted on Thursday to advance a bill to create a fast-track process allowing Democrats to raise the federal debt limit without votes from Republicans, a crucial next step as lawmakers race the clock to avert a catastrophic debt default.

A first-ever default would trigger financial disaster and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned the debt limit could be reached on Dec. 15, leaving little time left to act. Party leaders on both sides of the aisle have made clear that default must be prevented, but Republicans have insisted that Democrats should bear the burden of raising the limit on their own.

Now that the Senate has cleared a key procedural hurdle to advance the measure, a final Senate vote to approve the fast-track process could take place as soon as later in the day Thursday if an agreement is reached to speed up the process. If there isn't an agreement, the final vote is expected Friday.

Passage of the bill would then pave the way for Senate Democrats to take up and pass separate legislation to increase the debt limit by a specific dollar amount with 51 votes using the newly created fast-track process.

"We still have a few more steps to take before we completely resolve this matter, but I'm optimistic that after today's vote, we'll be on a glide path to avoid catastrophic default," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in floor remarks Thursday ahead of the procedural vote.

Although Republicans and Democrats have sparred over how to avert the looming debt limit crisis in recent months, Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reached an agreement to create the temporary, one-time process that will let Democrats raise the debt ceiling on their votes alone.

A number of top Senate Republicans have signaled they will support the fast-track debt limit plan. But McConnell has also faced pushback from some frustrated Republican lawmakers who feel the plan still amounts to their party helping Democrats raise the debt limit even as it paves the way for Democrats to ultimately act alone.

How action unfolded in the Senate

The first vote to take place in the Senate on Thursday was a cloture vote to break a GOP filibuster, which required 60 votes to succeed. The vote tally was 64 to 36 and 14 Senate Republicans crossed the aisle to vote with Democrats, who control only 50 seats in the chamber.

McConnell predicted earlier in the week that there would be enough GOP votes to clear that threshold. The language to create the fast-track process has been packaged as part of a more popular bill to prevent cuts to Medicare, likely making it easier to round up the votes.

"We'll be voting on it Thursday and I'm confident this particular procedure coupled with the avoidance of Medicare cuts will achieve enough Republican support to clear the 60-vote threshold," McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said at a news conference on Tuesday.

It's not yet clear if there will be agreement to hold a final vote on the debt limit plan Thursday evening, but Sen. John Thune, the GOP minority whip, indicated that lawmakers generally want "to get it wrapped up in a timely way."

"I know the folks you would think might [hold it up] are working cooperatively to try to figure out how to land it," Thune said. "I think everybody has an understanding of how this is probably going to end and wants to get it wrapped up in a timely way."

"It depends on cooperation," he added.

The House took the first step to implement the fast-track plan on Tuesday by voting to pass new legislation that will set up the process.

Once the Senate passes the measure, it will go to President Joe Biden's desk for his signature. After it has been signed into law, lawmakers will be able to start the process of passing an increase to the debt limit under the new fast-track process.

How the debt limit deal came together

Congress has been struggling on and off with how to address the debt limit for over the past few months.

In October, lawmakers passed a short-term debt limit extension into December after Democrats and Republicans reached a deal to avert economic disaster following weeks of partisan deadlock over the issue.

The extension passed after Republicans first argued that Democrats should act alone to address the debt limit through a process known as budget reconciliation. Democrats rejected that idea, arguing that the issue is a shared bipartisan responsibility and that the process would be too lengthy and unwieldy, making the risk of miscalculation too high.

But McConnell warned Biden in October in a letter that Democrats should not expect Republicans to help again.

Democrats, however, held firm and continued to resist pressure from Republicans to pursue dealing with the debt limit through the time-consuming reconciliation process in the weeks that followed.

Earlier this week, McConnell rejected the idea that by brokering a new deal to stave off default with Democrats he has reversed his earlier position of saying that Republicans would not help Democrats deal with the issue.

"The red line is intact. The red line is that you have a simple majority, party-line vote on the debt ceiling. That's exactly where we will end up," he said on Tuesday.

"I think this is in the best interest of the country by avoiding default. I think it is also in the best interest of Republicans," McConnell said. "I believe we've reached here a solution to the debt ceiling issue that's consistent with Republican views of raising the debt ceiling for this amount at this particular time and allows the Democrats to proudly own it, which they are happy to do."

WASHINGTON —

Congressional leaders reached an elaborate deal Tuesday that will allow Democrats to lift the nation's debt limit without any votes from Republicans, likely averting another last-minute rush to avoid a federal default. The House is expected to pass legislation late Tuesday that would kick off a multi-step process.

Congress approved a $480 billion increase in the nation's debt limit in October. That's enough for the Treasury to finance the government's operations through Dec. 15, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's projection.

But Republicans have warned they won't vote for any future debt ceiling increase to ensure the federal government can meet its financial obligations, and instead, the politically unpopular measure would have to be passed entirely by the Democratic majority in both chambers of Congress.

President Joe Biden had called on Republicans to "get out of the way" if they won't help Democrats shoulder the debt responsibility. But rather than step aside and allow for a quick vote, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has helped engineer an unusual legislative process that will play out over the next several days. Donald Trump, the former president, ridiculed McConnell for allowing any action, showing just how politically toxic the routine act of paying the nation's bills has become.

"I think this is in the best interest of the country," said McConnell, R-Ky. "I think it is also in the best interest of Republicans, who feel very strongly that the previous debt ceilings we agreed to when President Trump was here carried us through August. And this current debt ceiling is indeed about the future and not about the past."

The agreement spelled out in a House bill filed Tuesday establishes the days-long process ahead. In short, it would tuck a provision to fast-track the debt limit process into an unrelated Medicare bill that will prevent payment cuts to doctors and other health care providers. Once the Medicare bill becomes law, it will open the process for the Senate to raise the debt ceiling through subsequent legislation with a Democrats' only majority vote.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., struck an optimistic note that the debt ceiling plan will pass.

"This is a very good outcome for the American people. We will avoid default, which would have been disastrous. Democrats have always said that we were willing to shoulder the load at 50 votes to get this done as long it was not a convoluted or risky process, and Leader McConnell and I have achieved that."

Key to the agreement is that Democrats will have to vote on a specific amount by which the debt ceiling would be lifted. The amount has not yet been disclosed, but it is sure to be a staggering sum. Republicans want to try to blame Democrats for the nation's rising debt load and link it to Biden's $1.85 trillion social and environmental bill.

"To have Democrats raise the debt ceiling and be held politically accountable for racking up more debt is my goal, and this helps us accomplish that," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

The increase in the debt ceiling, however, is needed to meet financial obligations accrued by both parties under past legislation. The vast majority of it predates Biden's presidency.

"This is about meeting obligations that the government has already incurred, largely during the Trump Administration," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to Democratic colleagues. "Only three percent of the current debt has been accrued under President Biden."

Pelosi said that addressing the debt limit will prevent a drastic increase in interest rates for car loans, student debt, mortgages and other types of borrowing for Americans.

The legislation before the House on Tuesday establishes a fast-track process for the days ahead. A subsequent vote will be needed to pass the debt ceiling increase itself. Once the Senate has done so, the House will take up the bill and send it to Biden to be signed into law.

At their private luncheon Thursday, Republican senators sounded off against the plan. Many of them will not support it.

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., a member of GOP leadership, said the lunch discussion went about as would be expected — though he said the plan at least allows Republicans to achieve their goal of forcing Democrats to vote on their own to raise the debt ceiling by a specific amount.

The parliamentary machinations struck some House lawmakers as an "absurd" but necessary way to deal with the Senate, where the filibuster rules allow the Republican minority to block action.

"We're tying ourselves into parliamentary contortions to try to help the Senate deal with this straitjacket they have put themselves into," Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md said.

WASHINGTON —

Members of the House on Tuesday pushed through a short-term increase to the nation's debt limit, ensuring the federal government can continue fully paying its bills into December and temporarily averting an unprecedented default that would have decimated the economy.

The $480 billion increase in the country's borrowing ceiling cleared the Senate last week on a party-line vote. The House approved it swiftly so President Joe Biden can sign it into law this week. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had warned that steps to stave off a default on the country's debts would be exhausted by Monday, and from that point, the department would soon be unable to fully meet the government's financial obligations.

A default would have immense fallout on global financial markets built upon the bedrock safety of U.S. government debt. Routine government payments to Social Security beneficiaries, disabled veterans and active-duty military personnel would also be called into question.

The relief provided by passage of the legislation will only be temporary though, forcing Congress to revisit the issue in December — a time when lawmakers will also be laboring to complete federal spending bills and avoid a damaging government shutdown. The yearend backlog raises risks for both parties and threatens a tumultuous close to Biden's first year in office.

"I'm glad that this at least allows us to prevent a totally self-made and utterly preventable economic catastrophe as we work on a longer-term plan," said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.

Republicans signaled the next debt limit debate won't be any easier and warned Democrats not to expect their help.

"Unless and until Democrats give up on their dream of a big-government, socialist America, Republicans cannot and will not support raising the debt limit and help them pave the superhighway to a great entitlement society," said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla.

Procedurally, the House took a single vote Tuesday that had the effect of passing the Senate bill. The measure passed by a party-line vote of 219-206.

The present standoff over the debt ceiling eased when Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., agreed to help pass the short-term increase. But he insists he won't do so again.

In a letter sent Friday to Biden, McConnell said Democrats will have to handle the next debt-limit increase on their own using the same process they have tried to use to pass Biden's massive social spending and environment plan. Reconciliation allows legislation to pass the Senate with 51 votes rather than the 60 that's typically required. In the 50-50 split Senate, Vice President Kamala Harris gives Democrats the majority with her tiebreaking vote.

Lawmakers from both parties have used the debt ceiling votes as leverage for other priorities. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi threatened to vote against raising the debt ceiling when President Donald Trump was in office, saying she had no intention of supporting lifting the debt ceiling to enable Republicans to give another tax break to the rich. And Republicans in 2011 managed to coerce President Barack Obama into accepting about $2 trillion in deficit cuts as a condition for increasing the debt limit — though lawmakers later rolled back some of those cuts.

Pelosi told reporters Tuesday that over the years Republicans and Democrats have voted against lifting the debt ceiling, "but never to the extent of jeopardizing it."

Pelosi offered her hope that Congress would lift the debt ceiling in a bipartisan way this December because of the stakes involved. But she also floated a bill sponsored by Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., that would transfer the duty of raising the debt limit away from Congress and vest it with the Treasury secretary, saying, "I think it has merit."

In his focus on the debt limit, McConnell has tried to link Biden's big federal government spending boost with the nation's rising debt load, even though they are separate and the debt ceiling will have to be increased or suspended regardless of whether Biden's $3.5 trillion plan makes it into law.

"Your lieutenants on Capitol Hill now have the time they claimed they lacked to address the debt ceiling through standalone reconciliation, and all the tools to do it," McConnell said in a letter to the president. "They cannot invent another crisis and ask for my help."

McConnell was one of 11 Republicans who sided with Democrats to advance the debt ceiling reprieve to a final vote. Subsequently, McConnell and his GOP colleagues voted against final passage.

The debate over the debt ceiling has at times gotten personal. McConnell last week suggested that Democrats were playing "Russian roulette" with the economy because they had not dealt with the debt ceiling through the process he had insisted upon. He called out Pelosi for traveling to Europe last week.

"I can only presume she hopes the full faith and credit of the United States will get sorted out," McConnell said.

Pelosi did not let the shot pass. "Russian roulette from Moscow Mitch. Interesting," she said.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Tuesday's vote marked the 50th time dating back to President Ronald Reagan that he has voted on extending the debt limit.

"Nobody has clean hands when it comes to the debt limit," he said.

Because the Senate bill only allowed for a stopgap extension, Hoyer called it a "lousy deal."

"And then we're going to play this game one more time, a despicable and irresponsible act for adults who know better," Hoyer said.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said he wanted to "thank" Hoyer for sharing that he had previously voted for raising the debt ceiling 49 times.

"When he came into this body, the debt was about a trillion dollars," Roy said. "Thank you, I guess, on behalf of the people of America who are staring at 28-and-a-half trillion dollars of debt."

The current debt ceiling is $28.4 trillion. Both parties have contributed to that load with decisions that have left the government rarely operating in the black.

The calamitous ramifications of default are why lawmakers have been able to reach a compromise to lift or suspend the debt cap some 18 times since 2002, often after frequent rounds of brinkmanship.

WASHINGTON —

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday he would not again help Democrats extend the government's borrowing authority, raising fresh doubts about how Congress will avert a federal default when a temporary patch expires in December.

McConnell issued his warning in a letter to President Joe Biden a day after the Senate approved a $480 billion boost in the federal debt limit, enough to last about two months. In an eleventh-hour turnabout, the Kentucky Republican was among 11 GOP senators who provided decisive support Thursday for a procedural move that opened the door for subsequent Senate passage of that measure with only Democratic support.

Some GOP senators openly criticized their leaders not holding out longer against Democrats' efforts to extend the debt limit, which they said would have sharpened their message that a still-developing multibillion-dollar package of Biden's top domestic priorities is wasteful and damaging to the economy.

McConnell said Friday that he made his decision to refuse future help because of his opposition to the huge domestic bill and because of a "bizarre spectacle" on the Senate floor by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. After the bill passed, Schumer criticized Republicans for trying to push the country over "the cliff's edge" by opposing the debt limit extension.

"In light of Senator Schumer's hysterics and my grave concerns about the ways that another vast, reckless, partisan spending bill would hurt Americans and help China, I will not be a party to any future effort to mitigate the consequences of Democratic mismanagement," McConnell wrote.

It remains unclear how Democrats would push new legislation further extending federal borrowing authority come December without GOP backing.

One theoretical way is for them to change Senate rules and shield debt limit legislation from GOP filibusters, delays that require 60 votes to overcome in the 50-50 Senate.

At least two Democratic senators, West Virginia's Joe Manchin and Arizona's Kyrsten Sinema, have said they oppose doing that, effectively thwarting that option. Republicans said one factor in providing Democrats the two-month lifeline was fear that Manchin and Sinema might decide to support ending filibusters for debt limit legislation.

McConnell's letter included a string of insults aimed at Schumer, a remarkable broadside by one Senate leader against another.

"Last night, in a bizarre spectacle, Senator Schumer exploded in a rant that was so partisan, angry, and corrosive that even Democratic Senators were visibly embarrassed by him and for him," McConnell wrote. "This tantrum encapsulated and escalated a pattern of angry incompetence from Senator Schumer."

McConnell added: "This childish behavior only further alienated the Republican members who helped facilitate this short-term patch. It has poisoned the well even further."

A Schumer spokesperson declined to comment on McConnell's letter.

Since summer, McConnell repeatedly said Republicans would not assist Democrats in pushing a debt ceiling extension through the Senate by helping them reach the 60 votes needed for most legislation. He cited Democrats' proposed 10-year, $3.5 trillion social, economic and tax measure, which Republicans unanimously oppose.

Hours before Thursday's vote, McConnell reversed course and proposed a short-term extension into December. Without a renewal of federal borrowing powers, the Treasury Department had projected it would run out of cash to pay the government’s bills by Oct. 18.

Republicans lambasting McConnell's tactic included former President Donald Trump, still influential within the GOP. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., typically a McConnell ally, slammed the move as "complete capitulation."

If the government depletes its legal ability to borrow money, financial analysts have warned that it could deliver a serious blow to the U.S. and global economy and cause delays in government payments to Social Security recipients and others.

McConnell has insisted that Democrats can raise the debt ceiling by themselves by employing the same special budget process they're already using for their enormous domestic spending and tax measure. Those procedures forbid filibusters from being used against certain bills.

Democrats say they won't use that process, which they call too cumbersome. But it would also require them to raise the debt limit by a specific dollar amount that, they fear, Republicans will make a staple of campaign ads attacking them.

Democrats accused McConnell of creating a potential financial crisis. They noted that the current federal debt of around $28 trillion is to cover spending that's already been approved, including around $7 trillion under former President Donald Trump.

McConnell said it was Democrats who prompted the problem because he had warned them since summer that they would have to approve the debt limit extension on their own. Before Thursday, the House had approved debt ceiling extensions but Republicans blocked them in the Senate.

After the $480 billion borrowing extension cleared the procedural hurdle thanks to GOP support Thursday, the Senate gave it final approval by 50-48 with only Democratic votes. Final congressional approval of the Senate-passed short-term debt ceiling extension is expected Tuesday by the House.

After the Senate vote, Schumer lauded Democrats for overcoming "this Republican-manufactured crisis. Despite immense opposition from Leader McConnell and members of his conference, our caucus held together and we have pulled our country back from the cliff’s edge that Republicans tried to push us over."

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congress is taking action Thursday to avert a government shutdown. However, lawmakers are doing so by not addressing the debt ceiling.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said if Congress doesn't raise it by October 18, America will default on its financial obligations for the first time in history.

WHAT IS THE DEBT CEILING?

The debt ceiling is the amount of money the government can borrow to pay its bills, somewhat like your credit card limit.

Currently, the debt ceiling is $28.4 trillion, which is right around the amount of federal debt the country has accumulated.

If you are wondering if all countries have to deal with the debt ceiling, it is for the most part a uniquely American issue.

The United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Germany, and France don't have debt ceiling votes like this.

Only two countries have debt limit rules, Denmark and Poland. However, economists say it's not really controversial in those countries.

The debt ceiling issue exists in the United States mainly because of our Constitution.

Article 1, Section 8 says “Congress shall have Power {..} to borrow Money on the credit of the United States.”

In 1917, during World War I, Congress gave the Treasury Department more flexibility to borrow money.

The first official debt limit was set at $45 billion in 1939, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

According to the Treasury Department's website, since 1960, Congress has acted 78 separate times to raise the debt limit.

America has never let it lapse, although lawmakers came close during the Obama presidency.

THE DEBATE

Why is the country facing a debate over the debt ceiling? In short, because of disagreements between Republicans and Democrats.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) leads Democrats in the U.S. Senate.

He said on the floor this week about the possibility of default, "Time is short. The danger is real."

The reason the country is facing a possibility of default is Schumer wants Republicans to pass a debt limit increase in a bipartisan fashion.

However, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-K.Y.) has made it clear Republicans aren't interested in raising the debt ceiling while Democrats are in charge and are proposing trillions of dollars in new spending.

"Our Democratic colleagues will have to do it alone," McConnell said this week.

Democrats are capable of raising the debt limit through the reconciliation process, but that has been rejected over concerns it would procedurally take too long.

As a result, everything from social security checks to military pay hangs in the balance.