US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy with reporters at the Capitol, in Washington DC, on May 26, 2023 (Reuters)

North Carolina Rep and Republican negotiator in the US debt ceiling talks, Patrick McHenry, expressed that a deal may be near on raising the borrowing limit with the White House.

"It's hours or days, and I don't know when," the representative told reporters in Washington, adding that the number of issues to be taken care of had been lessened to just a few.

"We've had a long list for a long time. What I didn't anticipate is we'd have a very short list for a very long time," he stated.

This update follows after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen confirmed on Friday that the deadline to reach a deal was pushed back to June 5 rather than June 1.

The Treasury hit the borrowing limit in January, and since then, it has been taking "extreme measures" to pay its debt. The Fitch credit rating agency has even put the country on watch on Wednesday for a possible downgrade over a risk of default amid a government impasse on raising the national borrowing limit.

Fitch said the AAA rating "reflects increased political partisanship that is hindering reaching a resolution to raise or suspend the debt limit" ahead of a looming deadline.

President Joe Biden said on Friday that "It's very close and I'm optimistic", adding that "I'm hopeful we'll know by tonight whether we're going to be able to have a deal."

Yellen told Congressional leaders that "Based on the most recent available data, we now estimate that Treasury will have insufficient resources to satisfy the government's obligations if Congress has not raised or suspended the debt limit by June 5."

The United States is rapidly closing in on total financial chaos, as the two ruling parties have failed so far to reach a borrowing ceiling consensus.

McCarthy and Biden said Monday in their first one-on-one talks in months to avoid a calamitous debt default were "productive", but disagreements were still blocking any possible deal.

The #US is at risk of defaulting next month if the debt ceiling problem isn't resolved, and negotiations are at a stalemate, meaning a solution is not likely to be reached soon regarding the issue. pic.twitter.com/kFyvVHhrU8
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) May 20, 2023