Debt ceiling talks making progress, McCarthy says, as deadline nears

WASHINGTON (AP) — House negotiators are making progress toward an agreement with the White House to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, racing to close out a deal ahead of a looming deadline to avert a potentially catastrophic government default, Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Friday.

“I thought we made progress last night, we’ve got to make more progress now,” he said. “Now we’ve got a short timeframe.”

Democratic President Joe Biden and the Republican speaker are straining to strike a budget compromise by this weekend. The two sides are narrowing differences on a two-year agreement that would curb federal spending and lift the borrowing limit ahead of a deadline as soon as June 1 when Treasury could run out of money to pay the nation’s bills.

Any deal would need to be a political compromise, with support from both Democrats and Republicans to pass the divided Congress.

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