Debt ceiling negotiations heat up as deadline approaches.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has achieved a major victory in the battle of the budget by knocking President Biden off his clean debt ceiling perch. Biden has agreed to send White House staff to meet with congressional staff about budget savings as part of a debt ceiling increase, which is exactly what McCarthy asked him to do last February. The negotiations will be difficult and contentious, but the exact D-Day date is a moving target. Biden's approval rating is down to 36%, and his economy in the first quarter was a recession-prone 1.1%.