UPDATE: Biden Calls McCarthy In Bid To Revive Debt-Limit Talks

Some elements of this story were previously reported by Benzinga, and it has been updated.

President Joe Biden spoke with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Sunday about raising the U.S. debt limit.

Republicans and the Biden government are battling over spending cuts, which GOP lawmakers demand as the price for raising the federal borrowing limit, reports Bloomberg. 

Biden previously said that he proposed to cut spending and that the onus is now on Republicans to shift their demands.

“Now it’s time for the other side to move from their extreme positions because much of what they’ve already proposed is simply, quite frankly, unacceptable,” Biden said in a statement.

Prior to the call, McCarthy said he expected to speak with Biden about the negotiations in order to avert a catastrophic U.S. debt default. 

“We have got 11 days to go,”  McCarthy said at the Capitol earlier on Sunday, urging Biden and fellow Democrats to be “sensible about this.” 

Speaking to reporters following the call later that day, McCarthy said he had a positive conversation about the crisis and that staff-level talks would resume soon, according to Reuters. 

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has already warned that the U.S. could lose the ability to pay all its bills by June 1.

Also Read: Mitch McConnell Rules Out Helping Joe Biden On Debt Ceiling Crisis: ‘They’re Assuming There’s Some Little Secret Plan Here’

Yellen said that treasury markets have shifted to price in a default premium for securities maturing around that date. However, she has expressed hope that a solution will soon be reached.

The Treasury Department's measures to help keep the government's bills paid have declined to $88 billion from $110 billion. 

The department said in a recent statement that just over a quarter of the $333 billion of authorized measures are still available to keep the government from reaching the statutory debt limit. 

The country has been running a federal deficit almost every year since the U.S. was founded. To make up for it, the government has had to borrow money. It has done so by issuing bonds that investors can purchase and exchange for the same money with interest. 

For the fiscal year 2023, the government has a deficit of $1.10 trillion. As a result, the Treasury Department sells bonds to finance its deficit. 

Now Read: US Stocks Pause For A Breather As Investors Weigh Debt-Crisis DejaVu

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