"Biden and McCarthy Reach Final Agreement on Debt Ceiling Increase Negotiations"

With the U.S. national debt default deadline (June 5) just 8 days away, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached a final agreement on raising the debt ceiling on the 28th (local time).

AP News, citing anonymous sources familiar with the negotiations, confirmed the final agreement between the two leaders.

AP News reported that President Biden and Speaker McCarthy spoke while their working teams coordinated the draft bill in the evening.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

As Congress rushes to vote to prevent a default on June 5, President Biden and Speaker McCarthy are working to gain support from political moderates.

The agreement has not received support from hardline conservatives in the Republican Party nor from progressive hardliners in the Democratic Party, making opposition from both sides' hardliners the biggest variable.

Earlier, President Biden and Speaker McCarthy had reached a principled agreement on raising the debt ceiling after about an hour and a half phone call the previous day.

Both sides agreed to raise the debt ceiling for two years through 2024, including the next presidential election, while freezing spending for fiscal year 2024 and capping budget increases to a maximum of 1% in 2025.

Congress, which is on recess until Memorial Day (May 29), a U.S. holiday, will begin the ratification process on the 31st.