U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaks on the debt ceiling

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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will deliver an address Monday on the debt ceiling. His speech comes a day before President Joe Biden is scheduled to give the annual State of the Union address.

Biden and McCarthy are engaged in the early phases of what is expected to be a months long negotiation on a debt ceiling vote.

The nation hit its statutory limit last month, forcing Treasury Secretary Janey Yellen to take several temporary measures to prevent the government from defaulting.

If Congress does not pass a bill to raise or suspend the nation’s debt limit by early June, it could wreak economic havoc around the world.

But House Republicans say they will not vote to raise the limit without massive spending cuts in return.

“I believe you have to lift the debt ceiling, but you do not lift the debt ceiling without changing your behavior. So it’s got to be both,” McCarthy said after his first meeting with Biden last week.

The White House has so far refused to “negotiate” on a debt limit hike, however. Instead, Biden has called on Congress to pass a so-called “clean” bill, meaning one with no legislative strings attached.

McCarthy recently told reporters that will “never happen.”

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/06/watch-live-us-house-speaker-kevin-mccarthy-speaks-on-the-debt-ceiling.html