Vox Sentences - “The debt trajectory is unsustainable”

The US could default on its debt by July; Beijing says it has beaten the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

Lawmakers have until summer to fix the debt ceiling

Alex Wong/Getty Images

• The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday warned the US could default on its loans between July and September unless lawmakers raise or suspend the federal debt ceiling. [Washington Post / Tony Romm]
• If the US defaults on its loans, it would wreak economic havoc for most Americans, and global markets. [USA Today / Candy Woodall]
• The CBO also cautioned the Treasury Department could fail to pay the government’s bills even sooner if the IRS misses April tax revenues. [Associated Press / Fatima Hussein, Josh Boak, and Kevin Freking]
• Republicans want Democrats to agree to cut spending in exchange for raising the $31.4 trillion limit; however, President Joe Biden wants the GOP to lift the debt ceiling without conditions. Formal negotiations have yet to begin. [CNBC / Christina Wilkie]
• The office also forecast US budget deficits to average $2 trillion per year over the next decade, largely fueled by high interest rates and government spending. [Reuters / David Lawder and Richard Cowan]

China declares Covid victory

• Chinese officials claimed a “decisive” victory over the Covid-19 pandemic after 800,000 critically ill patients and 200 million others recovered from the virus. [Associated Press]
• In 2022, Chinese provinces spent more than $50 billion to contain and treat the coronavirus before Beijing abandoned its “zero-Covid” policy in January 2023. [Reuters]
• Though China claims an official Covid-19 death toll of just over 80,000, health experts estimate up to 1.5 million people died from the virus in the past two months. [New York Times / James Glanz, Mara Hvistendahl, and Agnes Chang]
• Meanwhile, a group of elderly retirees in Wuhan protested cuts to health care benefits the government enacted during the pandemic. [BBC / Stephen McDonell] 

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The special grand jury weighing 2020 election interference in Georgia recommended perjury charges for unnamed witnesses. [Vox / Ian Millhiser]

• A suspect is in police custody after one person was killed and three others injured in a shooting at an El Paso, Texas, shopping mall Thursday. [CNN /  Elizabeth Wolfe]
• The world’s largest natural ice skating rink remains closed this winter amid unusually warm temperatures in Ottawa, Canada. [Washington Post / Kelsey Ables]
• YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is stepping down from her post after nine years of running the video platform. [Vox / Peter Kafka]

"The debt trajectory is unsustainable. ... at some point, something has to give — whether it’s on spending or revenue."

[CBO director Phillip Swagel on the report’s release / AP]

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