Biden and McCarthy seal debt deal

US President Joe Biden has sealed a compromise with Kevin McCarthy. © Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP/dpa

The bitter dispute over the debt ceiling brought the US to the brink of insolvency. Shortly before the deadline, there is now an agreement.

Washington - US President Joe Biden and Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy have sealed their compromise on a bill to avert the United States' insolvency.

Republican and Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy. © Patrick Semansky/AP

Previously, there had only been talk of a "provisional agreement". "Speaker McCarthy and I have reached a bipartisan budget agreement that will prevent the worst crisis – a default for the first time in our country's history," Biden said on Twitter on Sunday (local time).

The deal was "good news" for the American people, Biden wrote. He called on Congress to immediately pass the agreement to raise the U.S. debt ceiling by 2025 in exchange for significant spending cuts. A vote in the chamber is scheduled for Wednesday.

The bill must be passed as soon as possible in both chambers of Congress - that is, the House of Representatives and the Senate - and signed by the president so that the US government does not run out of money. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently warned that the money could run out on June 5. This was preceded by an intense dispute that had even prompted Biden to cancel trips abroad. Dpa