US President Joe Biden pledged to hold a "discussion" with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy about raising the US debt ceiling, amid a warning that a US default could cause a global financial crisis.

Biden said - during an event with the mayors of cities on Friday - that the failure of the United States to pay the debt would be an unparalleled disaster in terms of finance in the country.

"The debt we've been paying has accumulated over 200 years, and we'll have a simple discussion about that with the new House Majority Leader," Biden said, without mentioning McCarthy by name.

Biden gave no details of when he would hold talks with McCarthy, a Republican newly appointed speaker of the House of Representatives who wants to link a vote to raise the debt ceiling to government spending cuts.

McCarthy said - in a tweet directed at Biden - that he had accepted his invitation to "sit down and discuss a responsible increase in the debt ceiling to address irresponsible government spending."

White House spokeswoman Karen Jean-Pierre said - in a statement - that Biden is looking forward to meeting with McCarthy "to discuss a range of issues" as part of a number of meetings he is holding with new leaders in Congress.

"As the president has said many times, raising the debt ceiling is not a negotiation," she added. "It is an obligation of this country and its leaders to avoid economic chaos."

Biden will host Democratic congressional leaders at the White House next Tuesday, and a White House official said no date has been set for McCarthy's visit.


The White House has repeatedly stated that it will not negotiate raising the debt ceiling, and has used some Republican proposals to cut spending to show inconsistency with Democrats' priorities.

"Concerning the broad economic debate in our country, the Speaker of Parliament and his allies said that they have a fiscal plan to cut Social Security, cut Medicare, cut other important programs, and impose a general sales tax of 30 percent," Jean-Pierre said, referring to programs American Social Security Network.

"We will have a clear discussion about two different visions for the country: one that reduces social insurance and the other that protects it, and the president will be happy to discuss that with the Speaker of Parliament," she added.

 financial crisis

For her part, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Friday that the potential failure of the United States to pay its debts could cause a global financial crisis, and undermine the role of the dollar as a reserve currency.

The US government reached the maximum borrowing ceiling at $31.4 trillion last Thursday;

Which reflects how much money the government has already spent.

Yellen told congressional leaders that her department has begun using extraordinary liquidity management measures that could avoid the country's risk of default until June 5.

"(The default) could cause a global financial crisis, and it would certainly undermine the dollar's role as a reserve currency used in transactions around the world," Yellen said - in an interview with CNN.

She added that this situation may lead to many individuals losing their jobs and higher borrowing costs.