The U.S. has surpassed its $31.4 trillion debt limit, leading the Treasury Department to implement extraordinary measures.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen notified Congressional leadership Thursday morning that she would begin implementing stopgap options to keep the government funded and avoid default. However, she has stressed the measures can only be used for a limited amount of time, likely through June.
Yellen has said it’s critical Congress act in a timely manner, warning that failure to address the debt ceiling would cause irreparable harm to the U.S. economy.
"I respectfully urge Congress to act promptly to protect the full faith and credit of the United States," Yellen wrote in Thursday’s letter to congressional leaders.
Republicans, led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, are looking to use the additional time to negotiate with Democrats; they are hoping to cut spending in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. But, Democrats are so far refusing to make concessions.
"It is something that should be done without concessions. We should not be negotiating around it," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday. "It is the basic duty of Congress to get that done."
U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez returns to court Monday to enter an expected not guilty plea to a conspiracy charge alleging he acted as an agent of the Egyptian government when he chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Hamas militants on Friday freed two Americans -- a mother and her teenage daughter who had been held hostage in Gaza since militants rampaged through Israel two weeks ago, the Israeli government said.
A Texas judge has ruled that Infowars host Alex Jones cannot use bankruptcy protection to avoid paying more than $1.1 billion to families who sued over his conspiracy theories that the Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax.
Former President Donald Trump was fined $5,000 on Friday after a disparaging social media post about a key court staffer in his New York civil fraud case was allowed to linger on his campaign website after the judge ordered it deleted.
Lawyer Kenneth Chesebro pleaded guilty to a felony on Friday just as jury selection was getting underway in his trial on charges accusing him of participating in efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election in Georgia.
