you re live in the cnn newsroom. i m jim acosta in washington. we begin with the most important sales pitch in washington this week selling the deal to avoid a catastrophic debt default. the call that was scheduled for two hours ago has not happened yet. a default could be disastrous to the u.s. and that threat still looms ominously. up on capitol hill there are lawmakers from both parties grumbling. passage is not guaranteed at this point. let s go to priscilla alvarez. what is there to make of this biden/mccarthy phone call. do we think that s going to happen any time now? any update on that? reporter: there s every expectation that this call will happen. it hasn t happened yet according to a source i spoke with half an hour ago. president biden when he arrived at the white house earlier this afternoon did say that the intent of this call was to, quote, dot the is and cross the ts. when asked weahether there were any sticking point, he said none. throughout the day, w