US Debt Negotiations Reach Critical Point as Default Looms

President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have reached a tentative agreement to raise the US legal debt ceiling, avoiding a potentially disastrous US default. The agreement includes some Republican demands for increased work requirements for recipients of food stamps, which had sparked an uproar from House Democrats. The legislative package could be drafted and shared with lawmakers in time for House votes as soon as Wednesday, and later in the Senate. The deal came together after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress that the United States could default on its debt obligations by June 5 if lawmakers did not act in time to raise the federal debt ceiling.