US lawmakers "very close" to debt deal

In the United States, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell told CNN on Sunday that negotiators were ``very close'' to sealing a deal that would cut spending by some $3 trillion while averting the first federal default in the nation's history.

That agreement would include raising the debt ceiling through next year's elections in two stages and creating a joint committee of members of Congress that would look at tax and entitlement reform.

Time is running out for a deal to be done. The US Treasury is set to run out of money on Tuesday.

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