除非华盛顿就债务上限达成协议，否则数百万美国人每月依赖的政府付款可能在一周多一点的时间内处于危险之中。
虽然华盛顿的最后期限政治正在上演，但接下来到底会发生什么的不确定时间表——包括这些付款和人们的银行账户——只会增加越来越多的焦虑。
财政部长珍妮特·耶伦(Janet Yellen)坚持认为，美国可能无法在6月初支付所有账单，最早可能是在6月1日，但具体日期仍不清楚。
这意味着，如果没有达成协议，计划用于社会保障、医疗保险和医疗补助等项目的数十亿美元，以及军队工资和退伍军人福利，都有可能得不到支付或被推迟。
总统乔·拜登和众议院议长凯文·麦卡锡一直坚称美国不会违约，但是仍然“相距甚远”周三的解决方案。
如果他们不这样做，将会发生什么是未知的领域:这个国家从来没有拖欠债务。
“现在，我们必须对达成协议保持乐观，”两党政策中心经济政策高级副主任雷切尔·斯奈德曼告诉美国广播公司新闻。
“但这表明，在债务上限问题上采取边缘政策的成本很高，这些事件造成的混乱和担忧对美国纳税人没有帮助，他们没有选择在月底支付或不支付哪些账单的奢侈，”斯奈德曼说。
两党政策中心是华盛顿的一个跟踪联邦现金流的智库，最近估计6月2日至6月13日之间违约风险增加。如果财政部能够在6月15日之前继续为政府融资，该中心和其他分析师认为，预期的季度税收收入将在违约前为政府提供更多时间。
6月1日至6月15日的风险付款
一个主要障碍是:据该智库称，约1，000亿美元的付款计划于6月1日和6月2日到期。
“我们甚至不应该谈论这种情况，”拜登本月早些时候表示，他警告说，如果违约发生，此类支付将面临风险。
美国军方负责人本周在外交关系委员会的一个小组会议上表示，如果债务上限没有提高，他们的行动将受到影响。
“我们必须确保我们的部队得到军饷，”陆军参谋长詹姆斯·麦康维尔将军说。
McConville补充道，“你知道，也许我听过的最好的名言之一是来自101空降师一位年轻专家的妻子。(在最后一次政府关闭期间)当政府(说可能没有)工资时，他们说(军队和他们的家庭)将追溯性地获得工资——她说的是，‘我的孩子不能追溯性地吃饭’。”
情绪高涨。
伊利诺伊州民主党众议员简·沙科夫斯基(Jan Schakowsky)周三在与众议院进步党团举行的新闻发布会上，热情地转达了她说她从她的一位选民“珍妮特”(Janet)那里听到的担忧，她说她患有慢性精神疾病，担心她将无法支付房租、食物或药物。
他说:“全世界有100万网民坐在家里，如果他们知道发生了什么，他们会看着共和党人试图对他们做什么。”。
可能的意外?
没有违约的路线图，但一些人表示，财政部可以优先考虑支付哪些款项，忽略哪些款项。
今年早些时候，共和党领导的众议院筹款委员会提出了一项法案，要求财政部首先支付国债的所有本金和利息，然后支付所有社会保障和医疗保险福利。
但是包括财政部长在内的官员对这种优先排序是否可行或合法表示怀疑。
“我想说，我们的支付系统是为了支付我们的账单而构建的，而不是为了决定哪些账单应该支付，哪些账单不应该支付，”耶伦周三在华尔街日报峰会上说。"所以一般来说，区分优先顺序在操作上并不可行."
当被问及医疗补助或社会保障支票是否会在“x-date”或违约日期后优先考虑时，白宫新闻秘书郭佳欣·让-皮埃尔强调优先考虑“不是计划”
“这是经济灾难的处方，”她周三表示。
另一个可能的选择是，财政部推迟所有支出，直到有足够的收入支付一整天的支出。
金融服务公司Kroll的首席政策策略师、前助理财政部长克里斯·坎贝尔(Chris Campbell)表示，之前告诉ABC新闻“万一(违约)发生，我相信财政部长会有一系列的选择来应对这种情况下的挑战。”
但耶伦周三重申，财政部“承诺不会错过付款和提高债务上限。”
“我们不参与计划如果出现违约会发生什么，”她说。
Debt ceiling timeline: When are Medicaid, Social Security and other payments in jeopardy
Unless Washington reaches a deal on the debt ceiling, government payments millions of Americans rely on each month could be in jeopardy in little more than a week.
While the deadline politics play out in Washington, the uncertain timeline of exactly what happens next -- both with those payments and to people's bank accounts -- is only adding to growing anxiety.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen maintains the nation could be unable to pay all of its bills in early June, possibly as early as June 1, though the exact date remains unclear.
That means billions of dollars scheduled for programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, as well as military salaries and veterans benefits, are at risk of going unpaid or being delayed if no agreement is reached.
President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have been adamant the U.S. won't default, but still remained "far apart" on a solution on Wednesday.
What would happen if they don't is uncharted territory: The nation has never defaulted on its debt.
"Right now, we have to remain optimistic that a deal is going to be struck," Rachel Snyderman, the senior associate director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told ABC News.
"But this goes to show that there is a significant cost to brinkmanship over the debt limit, and the confusion and the concern these episodes inflict is is not helpful to American taxpayers who don't have the luxury of choosing which bills they get to pay and don't at the end of the month," Snyderman said.
The Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington think tank tracking federal cash flows, recently estimated a heightened risk for default between June 2 and June 13. If the Treasury can continue financing the government through June 15, the center and other analysts believe expected quarterly tax receipts will provide the government more time before default.
Payments at risk from June 1 to June 15
A major hurdle: Some $100 billion in payments are scheduled to go out June 1 and June 2, according to the think tank.
"We shouldn’t even be talking about this situation," Biden said earlier this month as he warned such payments were at risk if a default occured.
The heads of the U.S. military services said during a Council of Foreign Relations panel this week their operations would be affected if the debt ceiling is not raised.
"We've got to make sure that our troops get paid," said Gen. James McConville, the Army chief of staff.
McConville added, "You know, probably one of the best quotes I've ever heard was from a young specialist's wife in the 101st Airborne Division. [During one of the last government shutdowns] when the government [said there might not be] paychecks, and they said said [troops and their families] will get paid retroactively -- what she said is, 'My kids can't eat retroactively'."
Emotions are running high.
Illinois Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky, during a news conference with the House Progressive Caucus Wednesday, passionately relayed concerns she said she heard from one of her constituents, "Janet," who she said suffered from chronic mental illness and fears she won't be able to pay for rent, food or medications.
"There are a million Janets all over the world who are sitting at home, if they understand what is going on, and watching to see what the Republicans are going to try to do to them," Schakowsky said.
Possible contingencies?
There is no roadmap for a default, but some have said the Treasury Department could prioritize which payments to make and which to ignore.
The Republican-led House Ways and Means Committee earlier this year advanced a bill that would require the Treasury to first pay all principal and interest on the national debt, then all Social Security and Medicare benefits.
But officials, including the Treasury secretary, have expressed skepticism about whether such prioritization is possible or legal.
"I would say that our payment systems have been constructed in order to pay our bills, not to decide which bills to pay and which bills not to pay," Yellen said Wednesday during a Wall Street Journal summit. "And so as a general matter, prioritization is not really something that's operationally feasible."
Asked whether Medicaid or Social Security checks would be prioritized after the "x-date" -- or date of default -- White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre emphasized prioritization is "not the plan."
"It is a recipe for economic catastrophe," she said on Wednesday.
Another potential option could be for the Treasury to delay all expenditures until there was enough revenue to cover an entire day's worth of payments.
Chris Campbell, chief policy strategist at the financial services firm Kroll and a former assistant Treasury secretary, previously told ABC News that "in the extremely unlikely event that [default] occurs, I'm certain that the Treasury Secretary would have a series of options at her disposal to be able to work through the challenges should that occur."
But Yellen on Wednesday reiterated the Treasury is "committed to not having missed payments and raising the debt ceiling."
"We are not involved in planning for what happens if there is a default," she said.
