A “deal in principle” between President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy would raise the country’s legal debt ceiling, but would also provide a package to avoid a potentially disastrous U.S. debt default, including spending cuts. There are only a few days left before Congress approves it.
The compromise, announced late Saturday, risks angering both Democrats and Republicans as they begin to unveil concessions. Negotiators agreed with some of the Republicans’ demands to increase labor requirements for food stamp recipients, which House Democrats said was a bummer. But negotiators have failed to cut the overall spending cuts that Republicans had hoped for.
It will need the support of both parties to get congressional approval before the government’s expected default on US debt on June 5. Lawmakers aren’t expected to return to work from Memorial Day weekend by Tuesday at the earliest, and McCarthy will follow the rule that any bill be submitted to lawmakers 72 hours before a vote. I promised.
White House officials were scheduled to brief House Democrats on a video call on Sunday.
The Democratic president and the Republican chairman met on the phone Saturday night and reached an agreement. The nation and the world are watching and awaiting resolution of the political conflicts that threaten the United States and the global economy.
“A deal is a compromise, meaning not everyone can get what they want,” Biden said in a statement. “That’s the ruler’s responsibility.”
Biden said the deal “is good news for the American people because it avoids what could have been a catastrophic default that would have led to an economic recession, destroyed retirement accounts and the loss of millions of jobs. It is.”
“It may not all work out for everyone, but this is a step in the right direction that no one expected,” McCarthy said in an interview with Fox News Sunday.
“I will discuss this bill with anyone,” he said. “Was that all I wanted after all? No. But we’re not in control of everything.”
Once the deal outline is in place, a legislative package could be drafted and shared with lawmakers in time for a House vote as early as Wednesday and a Senate vote later next week.
At the heart of the compromise is a two-year budget deal that would raise the debt ceiling for two years in exchange for flat spending in 2024 and a 1% increase in 2025, alleviating political volatility in the upcoming presidential election. will get over it.
Republicans pushed hard for an agreement to impose harsher working conditions on government aid recipients, achieving some of what they wanted, but not all. The agreement would raise the current working age requirement for able-bodied adults without children from 49 to 54. Biden was able to secure exemptions for veterans and the homeless.
The two countries also agreed to an ambitious review of federal permits to facilitate the development of energy projects. Instead, the agreement will make changes to the landmark National Environmental Policy Act, which designates a “single lead agency” to produce environmental reviews, in hopes of streamlining the process.
The deal comes after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress that the U.S. could default by June 5, four days later than previously expected, if lawmakers don’t act in time. It was settled in response to what I said to Congress. Removing the country’s debt ceiling, which currently stands at $31 trillion, would allow the country to borrow even more to pay the bills it already incurs.
With McCarthy holding a small Republican majority in the House, far-right conservatives may resist a deal that is insufficient to cut spending. By compromising with the Democrats for his vote, he risks losing his popular support, making it a career-testing moment for the new chairman.
“A majority of Republicans in Congress will vote for this bill,” McCarthy said in a television interview on Sunday. “This is a good bill for the American people. The president agreed with this bill. So I think many Democrats will vote for it too.
But McCarthy also said, “Democrats are very upset right now,” with New York House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries telling McCarthy, “The bill has nothing for them.” There’s nothing in the Democratic bill.”
In a tweet on Sunday, Mr. Jeffries said he was “grateful” that Mr. Biden had reached a deal in principle and looked forward to reviewing the bill once it was released.
Both sides have suggested that one of the major impediments was the Republican effort to expand labor requirements for recipients of food stamps and other federal aid programs, a long-standing Republican goal. has been strongly opposed by Democrats. The White House said the Republican proposal was “cruel and pointless.”
Biden said Medicaid labor requirements are not a start. He appeared potentially open to negotiating changes to food stamps, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), despite opposition from Democratic lawmakers.
The American people and the world watched with trepidation at a policy on the brink of negotiation that threatened to throw the U.S. and world economies into turmoil and undermine global confidence in the nation’s leadership.
With their next Social Security payment coming up next week, anxious retirees were already making contingency plans for leaked checks.
Missing action by the new deadline “would cause serious hardship for American families, undermine our global leadership position, and call into question our ability to defend our national security interests,” Yellen said. rice field.
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Associated Press reporters Stephen Groves, Fatima Hussein, Farnoush Amiri, Sungmin Kim of Washington, Michelle L. Price of New York, and video journalist Rick Gentilo contributed to the report.
