Today in one sentence: Biden said he is "confident" the U.S. will avert a default as negotiations over raising the debt limit continue; the North Carolina legislature banned most abortions after 12 weeks; the National Archives will turn over 16 records to special counsel Jack Smith that show Trump and his advisers knew the correct declassification process while he was president; about 39% of American households say they struggle to make ends meet; between 2019 and 2020, the overall mortality rate for young Americans rose by 10.7%; and the World Meteorological Organization warned there is a 66% chance that annual average global temperatures will exceed the Paris climate agreement threshold.

1/ Biden said he is “confident” the U.S. will avert a default as negotiations over raising the debt limit continue. “It would be catastrophic for the American economy and the American people if we didn’t pay our bills,” Biden said. “I’m confident everyone in the room agreed […] that we’re going to come together because there’s no alternative. We have to do the right thing for the country. We have to move on.” Republicans want to cut federal spending before lifting the debt limit, while Biden and the Democrats insist that raising the debt ceiling is nonnegotiable. Separately, House Democrats have started collecting signatures for a discharge petition that could circumvent House Republican leadership and force a vote to increase the debt limit should negotiations collapse. A discharge petition requires 218 or more members sign on. A group of Senate Democrats, meanwhile, started circulating a letter urging Biden to invoke the 14th Amendment to unilaterally lift the debt ceiling without involving Congress. The draft letter reminds Biden that the 14th Amendment says “the validity of the public debt, authorized by law […] shall not be questioned.” They add that “using this authority would allow the United States to continue to pay its bills on-time, without delay, preventing a global economic catastrophe.” (Associated Press / New York Times / ABC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News)

2/ The North Carolina legislature banned most abortions after 12 weeks. The Republican supermajority in both chambers of the state legislature voted to override the veto of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. Although the law includes exceptions for rape or incest and a “life-limiting anomaly” in the fetus, it does requires patients to meet in-person with a physician at least 72 hours before the procedure. The new law takes effect July 1. (Washington Post / New York Times / Axios / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)

3/ The National Archives will turn over 16 records to special counsel Jack Smith that show Trump and his advisers knew the correct declassification process while he was president. The records were subpoenaed earlier this year and “reflect communications involving close presidential advisers, some of them directed to [Trump] personally, concerning whether, why, and how you should declassify certain classified records.” Trump has repeatedly the claimed that he had a “standing order” to declassify documents he took from the White House, circumventing the standard process. One of Trump’s lawyers in the classified documents investigation, meanwhile, resigned. (CNN / Politico)

4/ About 39% of American households say they struggle to make ends meet – up from 34% a year ago and 27% in 2021. More than 25 million American homes say they used credit cards to meet their spending needs – up from 22.4 million a year earlier. (Bloomberg)

5/ Between 2019 and 2020, the overall mortality rate for young Americans rose by 10.7%. In 2021, the overall mortality increased by an additional 8.3% to the highest level in nearly 15 years. Covid-19 wasn’t the major cause of death for young Americans during that time, but the social disruption caused by the pandemic did exacerbate anxiety and depression. Guns, however, remain the No. 1 cause of death in young people. (Wall Street Journal)

6/ The World Meteorological Organization warned there is a 66% chance that annual average global temperatures will exceed the Paris climate agreement threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels by 2027. Researchers at the U.N. agency also said there is a 98% chance that global temperatures will exceed the 2016 record in the next five years. “This will have far-reaching repercussions for health, food security, water management and the environment,” the secretary general of the meteorological organization said. “We need to be prepared.” (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)

poll/ 18% of Americans say they have confidence in the Supreme Court – an all time low since polling began in 1973. 46% say they have some confidence in the Supreme Court, while 36% say they have hardly any. (Associated Press-NORC)

Two years ago today: Day 118: "Grave concern."
Four years ago today: Day 848: Willingness to cooperate.
Six years ago today: Day 118: Hot mess.