President Joe Biden has invited the top four congressional leaders to a meeting on May 9 to discuss the debt ceiling and federal spending, after the US Treasury warned it could run out of money to pay all of the government’s bills as early as June 1. This would jeopardize the nation’s ability to repay its debts, pay benefits to social security recipients and run other vital government programs. The new potential “X-date” is largely unchanged from a previous estimate that the government could run out of cash around June 5. But Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that because federal receipts and outlays are inherently variable, it is impossible to predict with certainty the exact date that Treasury will be unable to pay the government's bills. This does not augur well for the United States considering a similar debt ceiling fight in 2011 resulted in a downgrade of the country’s top-notch credit rating and nearly led to default on federal debt. The warning puts pressure on Hill leaders and the White House to strike a bipartisan fiscal deal as cross-party talks remain deadlocked.