28/5/2023–|Last updated: 5/28/202306:08 AM (Mecca time)
US media said that President Joe Biden reached a preliminary agreement with Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives to raise the US debt ceiling, thus avoiding default.
This agreement – which represents a breakthrough in the wake of long and intense negotiations between the two parties – came before the deadline for reaching an agreement on the fifth of next June, which was set by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
A source familiar with the negotiations said that reaching an agreement to raise the federal government’s debt ceiling of $31.4 trillion keeps non-defense spending stable for the current and next fiscal years 2024, adding that there are no maximum budget limits after 2025.
US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy confirmed that a preliminary agreement had been reached with the White House on raising the government debt ceiling, expected to be voted on in Congress next Wednesday.
McCarthy said he will speak again Sunday to President Joe Biden and oversee the final wording of the bill.
“Just got off the phone with the president,” McCarthy wrote on Twitter. “After he wasted time and refused to negotiate for months, we came to an agreement.”
In principle, the American people deserve it.”
Biden described the agreement in a statement as “an important step forward,” and said, “The agreement represents a consensus, which means that not everyone gets what they want,
This is the responsibility of the referee.”
A race against time
Earlier, indications emerged that the Democratic and Republican negotiators were close to reaching an agreement that would end the debt ceiling crisis, despite the two parties continuing to pursue a brinkmanship policy in the final stages of the race to avoid a possible catastrophic stoppage of payments.
“Our economy should be an economy that helps fill kitchen cupboards, not the pockets of the super-rich,” Biden wrote in a tweet.
The challenge is to get Congress, the Republican House of Representatives and the Democratic Senate, to vote quickly on raising the public debt ceiling, otherwise the United States may be in a state of default, an unprecedented situation with potentially catastrophic economic, financial and social repercussions.
This parliamentary maneuver has always been a formality for the two parties, but this time the Republicans are demanding a reduction in public spending in exchange for their agreement to raise the debt ceiling.
A major sticking point has been the Republicans’ insistence that those who receive government aid – such as food aid – must work for it.
The two sides have been negotiating for weeks an agreement to raise the federal government’s borrowing limit, as Republicans are also pressing for severe spending cuts.
Without a deal, the United States could face a default with catastrophic consequences.
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2023-05-28 02:40:09
