Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote a Mayday letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, setting June 1 as the potential date when the Treasury “will be unable to continue to satisfy all of the government’s obligations"—raising the possibility of sovereign default—without a debt-ceiling increase. This date is a good deal earlier than was being generally estimated based on a late April surge in previously low business tax receipts.
At the same time, President Biden called and invited the Congressional leaders—Sens. Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell, and Reps. Kevin McCarthy and Hakeem Jeffries—to a White House meeting May 9 to discuss the matter of the debt ceiling. Thus Biden, who has until now strongly maintained that he will not discuss the debt ceiling matter, may be starting a negotiation despite all refusals, and is likely having Yellen increase the pressure on Republican leaders with a dubious date of possible default.
