WASHINGTON (Reuters) – No. 2 U.S. Senate Republican John Thune on Monday said the news that the federal government could no longer be able to pay its bills as soon as June 1 was an urgent signal that Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy need to begin talks on raising the debt ceiling.

“It reinforces the need for the president to get up here or to get McCarthy down there to meet with him, one way or the other. I mean, time is a-wasting,” Thune said.

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone)

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