The financial planet can almost breathe. The elected representatives of the House of Representatives adopted on Wednesday by a very large majority the text aimed at suspending the debt ceiling until 2025, thus further distancing the specter of a default by the United States which would have had consequences. catastrophic effects on the American and global economy.
“Today the House (of Representatives) took an essential step forward to prevent for the first time a default” of the United States, said Joe Biden in a statement from the White House
In the evening, the bill received 314 votes in favor, 165 Democrats and 149 Republicans, while 117 elected officials opposed it, 71 Republicans and 46 Democrats. It must now be adopted by the Senate, which should decide quickly, the leader of the Democratic majority, Chuck Schumer assuring a little earlier in the day that he would submit it “as quickly as possible” so that “we avoid the default of payment “.
Fruit of marathon negotiations and ripped off with forceps during the extended Memorial Day weekend, the text must make it possible to avoid the worst: that the coffers of the country find themselves dry next Monday, then risking bringing the United States to the default of payment.
Success for Biden and McCarthy
It was to avoid this scenario with potentially catastrophic repercussions for the economy that Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy reached an agreement, which, like any compromise, did not fully satisfy anyone.
Before the vote, the Republican leader had acknowledged that he would not get the full number of votes in his camp, while displaying his optimism. “Today we will enact the largest budget cuts in American history,” he emphatically told reporters.
And for good reason, the Democratic leaders, although they were forced to alter the federal budget, undertook to bring the votes that would be missing from this text. “House Democrats will ensure the country does not default. One point, that’s all,” said their leader Hakeem Jeffries.
“Bad Deal”
In both camps, many voices had however made it known that they would not vote for the text. Among the Republicans, the main criticisms come from the Trumpist wing which demanded more spending cuts. The elected representative of Texas Chip Roy thus castigated a “bad agreement”, for which “no Republican should vote”.
Some members of their group are even considering a motion of no confidence to force Kevin McCarthy off the roost. The proposal can be tabled by a single elected representative.
On the Democratic side, left-wing elected officials like Pramila Jayapal and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez refused to support a text “imposed” according to them by the Republicans.
The bill suspends the debt ceiling until 2025, i.e. after the presidential elections, at the end of 2024. In exchange, certain expenses will be limited in order to keep them stable, excluding military expenses, in 2024 and increasing by 1% , excluding inflation, in 2025. It also provides for a decrease of 10 billion dollars in funds allocated to tax services to modernize and strengthen controls.
A major point of contention, the compromise includes modifications to the conditions imposed to benefit from certain social aid: it increases from 49 to 54 the age until which adults without children must work to receive food assistance, but it eliminates this obligation to work for veterans and the homeless.