President Biden and Republican Kevin McCarthy due to meet for talks on lifting US debt ceiling

President Joe Biden and top Republican Kevin McCarthy are due to meet at the White House today for talks on lifting the US debt ceiling.    

The pair spoke on the phone on Sunday as the president was travelling back from the G7 summit in Japan.

The two sides remain at odds over budget cuts demanded by the Republicans as a condition for raising the ceiling.  The debt ceiling is a spending limit set by Congress that determines how much money the government can borrow. Failure to raise it beyond the current



cap of roughly 31.4 Trillion US Dollars by June could result in the US defaulting on its debt.

That would mean the government could not borrow any more money or pay all of its bills. It would also threaten to wreak havoc on the global economy, affecting prices and mortgage rates in other countries.

As he left Japan on Sunday, Mr Biden told reporters that proposals by Republicans - who control the House of Representatives - were "simply, quite frankly, unacceptable".