“Joe Biden and Kevin McCarthy Finalize Deal to Suspend U.S. Debt Ceiling Until 2025”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday he had finalized a budget deal with House of Representatives speaker Kevin McCarthy to suspend the U.S. debt ceiling until January 1, 2025, saying that a text was ready to be submitted to the vote of the Congress.

“This agreement is good news (…) for the American people,” he told reporters at the White House after speaking by phone with Kevin McCarthy to settle the final details of the agreement. provisional that the Democratic president and the highest Republican representative in Congress had found on Saturday evening.

After weeks of tense negotiations between the White House and Republicans, it is now up to Congress, where each party tightly controls one chamber, to approve this deal by June 5 – the date from which, according to the US Treasury Department. , the federal government may no longer be able to make payments.

“I strongly urge both chambers to approve this deal,” Joe Biden said on Sunday, adding he expects Kevin McCarthy to muster the necessary votes in Congress.

Earlier in the day, Kevin McCarthy predicted that he would have the support of a majority of elected Republicans. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said he expects his peers to approve the deal.

While some ultra-conservative Republicans and progressive-wing Democrats have criticized the deal, its future is likely to hinge on elected moderates on each side.

Republicans lead the House of Representatives with 222 seats to 213, while Democrats control the Senate with 51 seats to 49.

The agreement reached by Joe Biden and Kevin McCarthy provides for the suspension of the debt ceiling until January 1, 2025, a limit on spending in the 2024 and 2025 budgets, as well as the reallocation of non-COVID-related relief measures. used, in particular.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell hailed the deal and called on senators to approve the text quickly once it passes through the House of Representatives.

(Reporting by Moira Warburton, Steve Holland, Diane Bartz, Daphne Psaledakis, Richard Cowan, Trevor Hunnicutt and Idrees Ali; French version by Jean Terzian)

by Moira Warburton, Diane Bartz and Idrees Ali