THE SQUIZ
We mentioned yesterday that next week’s Quad summit in Sydney was on shaky ground after US President Joe Biden pulled out… And late yesterday, PM Anthony Albanese said the meeting between member countries Oz, the US, Japan and India had been postponed. Biden has cancelled the Australian and Papua New Guinea legs of his overseas trip because his mind is on domestic issues in the US – namely, talks to resolve the US debt ceiling cluster disaster before 1 June. But Biden will still attend the G7 leaders summit in Japan this weekend, and Albanese says he hopes to pin down the Quad leaders for informal security talks there. “We are attempting to get together over that period of time [and] I’ll have a bilateral discussion with President Biden,” he said.

DOESN’T HE HAVE TRADIES TO LOOK AFTER HIS CEILING?
Lolz… It’s a whole thing, but let’s summarise. The debt ceiling is a legislated limit on the amount of money the US Federal Government can borrow to pay for everything it spends money on. The problem is US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned the US might run out of money to pay its bills if Democratic and Republican leaders don’t agree on a new debt ceiling limit by the end of the month. Not lifting the ceiling means the US would default on its debts, and that would affect pretty much everything – paying the salaries of US government/military workers, defence contracts, social security and Medicare. More broadly, reports say it could tank global financial markets – including here – and likely push the US into a nasty recession. Yellen said a default would lead to an “unprecedented economic and financial storm”…

SO WHAT ARE THEY DOING ABOUT IT?
Instead of selfies in Sydney (in matching sunnies, no less…), we’re likely to see more pics of Biden meeting with Republican leaders as they negotiate. To lift the debt ceiling, Biden has to get the Republicans on side – and that might mean giving into some of their demands. Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy and his team are pressuring Democrats to reallocate funds and make spending cuts in the 2023-24 budget. If they don’t reach an agreement this month, it will become the 1st time in history that the US defaults on its debts. But they seem to be making some headway – McCarthy says, “negotiations are finally underway for a responsible debt limit increase”, and Biden says they agree that “defaulting on the debt is simply not an option”. No pressure, then…