let s do it. cnn news central starts now. he shared photos of guns, targets, ammunition boxes and a tactical vest. this morning the disturbing social media posts from the gunman who murdered eight people at a texas mall. a pivotal meeting today, an attempt to keep the debt ceiling from crashing down. president biden is sitting down with top congressional leaders from both parties, but can they hammer out a deal before the u.s. goes into a catastrophic default? king pinning terrorist, that is who israel said it was targeting in an overnight military strike in gaza. now at least 13 people are dead. these major stories and many more all coming in to cnn news central. we begin with today s high stakes meeting amid a resolving the debt ceiling standoff. if there is no deal it could lead to financial disaster. in just a few hours president biden will meet at the white house with these four congressional leaders, house speaker kevin mccarthy, senate majority leader
treasury securities first. the thinking there not making good on those commitments could trigger global financial turmoil as investors might start fleeing treasuries and treasuries serve as a building block for the financial system. paying social security benefits, 66 million americans get paid out monthly. also making medicare payments, more than 65 million people are enrolled in that. and the pay in benefits for some 2 million federal workers, 1.4 million active duty military members. and the list, it doesn t end there. now, the treasury secretary actually warns a plan like this, it still isn t a fix, it still means default. we believe i believe that prioritization of payments, as you said, is default by another name. it s simply a recipe for economic and financial catastrophe to think we can pay