Hope for a political deal grows, the deadline has been pushed back to June 5

The agreement, necessary for conservatives to approve a vote in Congress to raise the U.S. public debt ceiling, would freeze some spending.

By Le Figaro with AFP

published On 05/26/2023 at 22:55to update On 05/26/2023 at 22:58

Finally deal in sight? As the imaging window narrows to Avoid default in the United StatesThe White House and negotiators on Friday continued to hammer out a settlement with major political implications. According to many US media, the teams of Democratic President Joe Biden and the teams of Republican President of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, have already agreed on some main lines.

The agreement, necessary for conservatives to agree to a congressional vote to raise the U.S. public debt ceiling, would freeze some expenditures, but without prejudice to defense and veterans budgets, stating for example: The New York Times where is the Washington Post. It will be postponed for two years, until the next presidential election, the risk of default.

This unprecedented scenario of the bankruptcy of the first world power can intervene after June 5 for the lack of a political agreement and vote in the Senate as in the House of Representatives. A polished estimate provides a few days’ respite from the previous assessment, which focused on June 1. The United States would then find itself unable to pay its creditors, which is the definition of default, but also unable to pay some civil servants and social benefits.

The challenge, in addition to averting a financial, social and economic catastrophe, is to allow each camp to limit the damage at the political level. Kevin McCarthy, who needs to assert his status as Speaker of the House, could claim to have instilled more budgetary toughness, while the Democrats claim they have protected social benefits or big investment projects.

Also read – Keys to Understanding the US Debt Battle

“opposing opinions”

The US president, who is fighting for re-election, made it clear Thursday that “Two opposing opinionsThey were, according to him, engaged in these discussions. He pretended to be a champion of social and financial justice, claiming the richest and largest corporations.”Pay their fair shareTaxes, painting Republicans as Wall Street’s big money party. But, according to the press, the 80-year-old Democrat was going to give up, in negotiations with the Republicans, increasing the means intended for combating tax evasion as much as he wanted.

If a deal is reached, it must still be approved by the Senate, which Democrats hold narrowly, and the House of Representatives, where conservatives hold a shaky majority. This will not be an easy task. On the one hand, because the parliamentary calendar is constrained: Many elected officials have gone home across the United States for a multi-day vacation for the extended Memorial Day weekend.

On the other hand, because some progressives within the Democratic Party, just like some elected representatives of the Republican Party, have already threatened not to ratify a text that would make too many concessions to the opposing camp. Republican Senator Mike Lee promised Thursday that “It will use all procedural tools at its disposal to block a debt ceiling agreement that contains no substantive spending reforms. I’m afraid we are heading in that direction.»

Democratic senators have asked the president to rely on the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits questioning the “solvency” of the United States, by continuing to issue debt even if no deal is reached. What the White House now flatly opposes, much to the chagrin of the progressive camp. In other words, Joe Biden and McCarthy will have to play in the middle to rally most parliamentarians on both sides, a practice that has become very difficult in a country where political divisions have widened exponentially in recent years.