The Congressional Budget Office had estimated that the risk of default should occur between July and September. But the Treasury Department had already mentioned the date of June 1 for a possible default.
The debt of the world's largest economy reached $31 trillion on January 000, the ceiling beyond which the country can no longer issue new loans to finance itself. Democrats and Republicans are engaged in a tug-of-war over this issue, the Republican opposition refusing, for the moment, to raise the debt ceiling without concessions.