White House, Republicans iron out debt limit agreement

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and President Joe Biden were working to finalize and shore up support for an agreement to raise the debt limit and cap government spending. McCarthy said Saturday he reached an “agreement in principle” after a phone call with President Joe Biden that evening. Some sources have suggested the agreement would hold spending flat for 2024 and raise spending only slightly in 2025 in exchange for raising the debt limit for two years.

Will the agreement pass the House and Senate? McCarthy said that there is more work to do on the agreement. He has also promised to post whatever agreement he and Biden reach for 72 hours before asking lawmakers to vote on it. Some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have already criticized the agreement. Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has pushed back the estimated date when the U.S. government could start defaulting on its debt obligations from June 1 to June 5.

Dig deeper: Read Leo Briceno’s report in The Stew about House Democrats’ long-shot plan to fix the debt ceiling crisis.