The U.S. could default sooner than we thought

The Treasury Department announced today that the U.S. could default on its debt as early as June 1. For the past few months, House Republicans have used the debt limit as a bargaining chip to secure spending cuts. As the new deadline looms over us, we are wondering: Is there a way out? And, an unassuming Supreme Court case could change how a slew of laws are interpreted. Plus, video-chatting parrots make us smile.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• • “The Luring Test: AI and the engineering of consumer trust” from the Federal Trade Commission

• • “Supreme Court will consider major case on power of federal regulatory agencies” from SCOTUSblog

• • “U.S. must raise debt limit by as early as June 1 to avoid default, Treasury says” from The Washington Post

• • “The U.S. could hit the debt ceiling by June 1, much sooner than expected, Yellen warns” from NBC

• • “Trump to appear at CNN town hall in New Hampshire” from CNN

• • “NASA’s Perseverance rover loses its hitchhiking ‘pet rock’ after more than a year together on Mars” from Live Science

• • “Scientists Taught Pet Parrots to Video Call Each Other—and the Birds Loved It” from Smithsonian magazine

Have a comment or question about something we talked about? Send it our way! Leave us a voice message at 508-U-B-SMART or write to makemesmart@marketplace.org.