Potential debt ceiling standoff looms large
When Biden delivers his State of the Union address, it will be the first with new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy sitting over his shoulder.
Shaping up to be the first major obstacle that McCarthy and Biden must work together to overcome is how Congress should go about raising the federal borrowing limit, which the Treasury Department has indicated will need to be done as soon as June to make sure none of the federal government's bills go unpaid.
The conflict, along with the potentially calamitous economic consequences of a debt default, will no doubt color some of Biden's remarks as he looks to reassure the 53% of Americans who are "very" concerned about that outcome, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll.
Biden and McCarthy say they agree that the nation cannot default on its debt, but with the Treasury already using "extraordinary measures" to keep the nation out of the red, that's about all they agree on.
The speaker looked to preempt Biden's State of the Union speech in remarks Monday night in which he outlined what he saw as the major risks the nation faces by failing to cut spending. McCarthy described the $31.4 trillion national debt as the "greatest threat to our future."
The Biden administration, meanwhile, maintains that the debt limit must be raised without any political negotiation or bargaining, as has been done under both parties over many years.
-ABC News' Allison Pecorin