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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday said Congress must raise or suspend the U.S. debt ceiling by June 5 or risk a default, extending a previous deadline by a few days.
“We now estimate that Treasury will have insufficient resources to satisfy the government’s obligations if Congress has not raised or suspended the debt limit by June 5,” she wrote in a letter to lawmakers.
Yellen had previously warned that the U.S. could be unable to pay its bills as soon as June 1.
Debt-ceiling talks are continuing between the Biden White House and congressional Republicans.
Debt-ceiling talks are “up and down,” Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, a key deputy for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, told reporters on Friday.
Though negotiators are still working on an agreement, it is expected to include energy-permitting reforms, clawbacks of unused COVID-19 aid and potentially tougher work requirements for recipients of some federal assistance.
Another McCarthy deputy, Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana, told reporters Friday afternoon that Republicans won’t back down on work requirements.
A deal could lift the debt limit through the 2024 elections, reports have said.
“I continue to urge Congress to protect the full faith and credit of the United States by acting as soon as possible,” Yellen wrote to McCarthy and other congressional leaders.
Victor Reklaitis contributed.
