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DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Ryan: Lawmakers will meet new debt deadline

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Paul Ryan is assuring investors that Congress will meet a new deadline to increase the government’s borrowing authority and avert an economy-quaking default on U.S. obligations.

Ryan said Thursday that “the debt ceiling issue will get resolved.”

He spoke a day after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned lawmakers that Congress needs to vote to increase the almost $20 trillion borrowing cap before taking its annual August vacation.

It had been previously assumed that lawmakers wouldn’t have to vote on the debt limit until sometime this fall.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Lieberman withdraws from FBI director search

WASHINGTON — Former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman has withdrawn from consideration for the role of FBI director, becoming the latest contender to pull out of a search process that President Donald Trump said a week ago was moving quickly.

Lawyers, law enforcement officials, judges and politicians have interviewed either with the Justice Department or the White House for the director’s job, which became open with Trump’s May 9 firing of James Comey.

Lieberman, a former Democratic presidential candidate, interviewed with Trump last week and was acknowledged by the president to be a leading candidate. But the buzz around his candidacy fizzled after Trump left for his foreign trip last Friday without naming his pick.

He likely would have faced a challenging confirmation process because of his lack of law enforcement experience and opposition from many in Congress to placing a political figure atop the FBI.

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