"Debt Ceiling Standoff: McCarthy's Plan Faces GOP Resistance as Wall Street Braces for Impact"

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is struggling to get his small House majority to pass a $4 trillion spending cuts bill designed to force President Joe Biden to climb down over a debt showdown, fueling fresh fears the US is heading for a default that could hurt millions of people. Unless Congress fails to raise the federal borrowing limit this summer, the government will run out of money, the US will be unable to pay its obligations and the economy could tumble into a recession, causing job losses and possibly halting payment of some benefits. The dispute is the first crisis point of a new period of divided government that will show whether Washington is able to overcome the country’s festering political estrangement that threatens to inflict devastating self-harm on the economy and the financial security of countless citizens.