Biden, McCarthy debt ceiling talks wrap as clock ticks to US default

President Joe Biden and top lawmakers met face-to-face on Tuesday as a deadlock over raising the $31.4 trillion U.S. debt limit threatened to push the country into an unprecedented default in as soon as three weeks if Congress does not act.

The Oval Office meeting between Biden, a Democrat, and House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, ended after just over an hour with no immediate sign progress was made, after both sides suggested earlier they would not agree to concessions to head off a default as early as June 1.

"We're going to get started and solve all the world's problems," Biden quipped prior to the meeting, declining to take reporters' questions or to offer his guests an opportunity to speak.