2023-05-10 15:59:23
Cataclysm, catastrophe, collapse, Armageddon: the vocabulary is classic among American commentators. According to the Treasury, the United States is a few weeks away from a possible default, the consequences of which on the national and global economy are chilling. This threat is recurring. To avoid this, Congress usually agrees to raise the debt ceiling, which now stands at more than 31,000 billion dollars (28,000 billion euros). Such a measure has been taken twenty times since 2001. But this choreography is now threatened by the maximalist approach of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives. The latter decided to condition this increase on budget cuts. Unacceptable, for Joe Biden.
Tuesday, May 9, the American president received at the White House the “speaker” of the House, Kevin McCarthy, as well as the other parliamentary leaders, Democrats and Republicans. “I didn’t see any movement”, explained the announcer. His Republican colleague in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, for his part assured: “The United States has never failed and never will. » But Kevin McCarthy was careful not to make such a solemn commitment. A new meeting between the same actors and their advisers is scheduled for May 12.
In a speech delivered at the start of the evening followed by a rare question-and-answer exercise with the press, Joe Biden repeated in turn that “default is not an option”. The president said he was ready to lead a separate discussion with a view to reducing the country’s debt, while stressing that his administration had already obtained a reduction in the deficit of 1,700 billion dollars in two years. The White House’s own – indicative – budget plan, put forward at the beginning of March, envisages a continuation of this reduction of 3,000 billion in ten years. For this, the text defends in particular an increase in taxation on companies from 21% to 28% and the ability of Medicare, the Federal Agency of the United States Department of Health, to negotiate the price of drugs with the pharmaceutical industry. .
“Stillborn” budget text
For now, everyone is sticking to their positions. The Biden administration refuses any parliamentary blackmail on the state’s ability to pay its debts and borrow, considering that the budget negotiations must be held separately. “The idea that we wouldn’t pay our debt is just weird, noted Joe Biden, during an interview with MSNBC, on May 5. It is estimated that if we did not pay our debt, we would lose 750,000 jobs. We would have a recession. It would be a disaster. » In 2011 and 2013, under the Obama presidency, of which Joe Biden was the vice-president, a last minute agreement was reached, to avoid default. During Donald Trump’s tenure, the debt ceiling was raised three times.
You have 57.72% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.
#confrontation #White #House #elected #Republicans #raises #specter #financial #default