AURN News with Ebony McMorris

Countdown to Crisis: Debt Ceiling Talks Back on the Table

Both sides are under immense pressure to find common ground and prevent the country from plunging into financial uncertainty.

Ebony McMorris
May 22, 2023

Reading Time: < 1 minute

As the clock ticks towards the June 1 debt ceiling deadline, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have moved their dispute from the halls of Congress to the White House. Both sides are under immense pressure to find common ground and prevent the country from plunging into financial uncertainty.

Amid the tension, the Biden administration maintains its stance that Republicans need to be more flexible. The president emphasized that Republicans need to move from their extreme position and hinted at the need for a compromise. McCarthy stressed the need for Biden to break away from what he calls the Democratic Party’s socialist wing.

Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget, a top mediator for President Joe Biden in the debt limit talks, arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sunday, May 21, 2023, as negotiations on the debt ceiling are set to resume. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is painting a grim picture and has reiterated her warning of potential economic chaos. Her concerns echo a report by the White House Council of Economic Advisors, which suggests that a default could precipitate an economic downturn that mirrors the severity of the Great Recession, leading to the loss of 8 million jobs and causing a nearly 45% drop in stock market value.

Click play to listen to the report from AURN White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris. For more news, follow @E_N_McMorris & @aurnonline.

White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris is a native Washingtonian and University of South Carolina alumna. Her passion is mentoring young adults by teaching community empowerment and media education. She is an NAB member and board member of the Thurgood Marshall Center and was presented the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award for contributing more than 4,000 hours of community service under the Obama Administration.