Yellen Warns of Economic Consequences if Debt Ceiling Not Raised by June 1

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reaffirmed June 1 as the “hard deadline” for the US to raise the debt ceiling or risk defaulting on its obligations. President Joe Biden issued a stark warning that congressional Republicans could use a national default to damage him politically and acknowledged time had run out to use potential unilateral actions to raise the federal borrowing limit. Yellen downplayed the impact of tax receipts or spending delaying the X-date past early June, saying the odds are “quite low,” the US makes it to June 15 without defaulting if no congressional intervention happens.