President Joe Biden and top Republican Kevin McCarthy are due to meet at the White House today for talks on lifting the US debt ceiling.
The BBC is reporting that the pair spoke on the phone on yesterday as the President was travelling back from the G7 summit in Japan.
The two sides remain at odds over budget cuts demanded by the Republicans as a condition for raising the ceiling.
Failure to do so by June could result in the US defaulting on its debt.
That would mean the government could not borrow any more money or pay all of its bills. It would also threaten to wreak havoc on the global economy, affecting prices and mortgage rates in other countries.
As he left Japan on Sunday, Mr Biden told reporters that proposals by Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, were “simply, quite frankly, unacceptable”.
But Mr Biden also said he would be willing to cut spending to reach a deal.
The President cancelled foreign visits that were due to follow the three-day summit in Hiroshima, in order to deal with the impasse over the federal debt.
Mr McCarthy earlier described his call with Mr Biden as productive.
“I think we can solve some of these problems if he understands what we’re looking at,” he told reporters following the pair’s conversation.
On Sunday night, negotiators met at Mr McCarthy’s office on Capitol Hill for a summit that lasted around two-and-a-half hours.
Steve Ricchetti, one of Mr Biden’s representatives and a senior adviser to the president, told reporters that the negotiating teams would continue to work overnight.
