President Barack Obama said congressional action to increase the government’s debt limit will require a compromise with Republicans on trimming the federal budget.

A debt-ceiling increase is “not going to happen without some spending cuts,” the president said in an interview with the Associated Press today in Chicago.

“All of us agree we have to get control of our spending and live within our means,” the president said.

Congress is set to begin debate soon on raising the government’s $14.29 trillion legal debt limit. The Treasury Department projects that it will hit the cap on May 16, though it could use emergency measures to avoid default until about July 8.

Obama and members of his economic team have warned that failure to approve an increase could be catastrophic for the U.S. economy and financial markets.

A stalemate that blocks action on the debt limit “could plunge the world economy back into recession.” Obama said in the AP interview. Still, he said he is confident lawmakers would ultimately act to raise it. “We always have,” he said.