'Default off the table', says Biden after debt ceiling talks

Washington, May 23

US President Joe Biden and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have called their latest talks on the debt ceiling productive, but no deal has yet been reached.

Taking to Twitter on Tuesday morning, Biden said: "I just concluded a productive meeting with Speaker McCarthy about the need to prevent default and avoid a catastrophe for our economy.

"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.

"While there are areas of disagreement, the Speaker and I, and his lead negotiators Chairman McHenry and Congressman Graves, and our staffs will continue to discuss the path forward."

On his party, McCarthy told reporters late Monday night that "President Biden and I just had a productive meeting in our negotiation to responsibly raise the debt limit".

"It should have happened months ago, but there is a path for him to avoid defaulting on the debt," the California Republican added.

The debt ceiling is a spending limit set by Congress which determines how much money the government can borrow, the BBC reported.

Failure to raise it beyond the current cap of roughly $31.4 trillion by June could result in the US defaulting on its debt.

That would mean the government could not borrow any more money or pay all of its bills.

It would also threaten to wreak havoc on the global economy, affecting prices and mortgage rates in other countries, BBC reported.

The President ended his trip to Japan for the G7 summit early and returned to the US on Sunday to address the deadlock over US debt.

The latest development comes after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had reiterated that the US will likely default on its debt as early as June 1.