2023-06-01 03:45:20
On Tuesday, the first big step of the bipartisan agreement towards the debt ceiling increaseWith the House Rules Committee approving that first filter without problems, the next day things didn’t seem so clear. The subsequent process of the House of Representatives was the only possible way to avoid the indebtedness of the nation and, with it, a catastrophic interruption of the financial obligations of the United States Government.
Tonight, the Lower House definitively approved the text with 314 supports -165 from Democrats and 149 from Republicans. 46 Democrats and 71 Republicans voted against. Two members of each party did not vote.
After the initial procedure of the Committee, this Wednesday the second and most transcendental of all the steps to approve the 99-page legislative text took place: the vote of the House of Representatives, which currently has a slight Republican majority of 222 seats compared to 213 for the Democrats.
Although, on this occasion, the atmosphere of polarization is not perceived only between the two political formations of the country and their usual rivalries in all areas of discussion, but especially within them. The internal division of both the Democratic and Republican parties, it is the one that is really putting the solvency of the country at risk, forcing the United States to face an uncertain economic future in a matter of days.
In the Senate, next required step when the lower house vote goes ahead, the process seems easier. With 50 seats for Democrats and another 50 for Republicans, the vice president’s vote Kamala Harris, as president of the Upper House, would break the tie in favor of the liberals. An unlikely scenario, because even many conservatives have advanced that they support the bipartisan agreement reached in the extended previous phase of negotiations.
Even so, for now any possibility is still on the table and, despite having reached a prior agreement negotiated for weeks by representatives of both political formations, no one knows yet for sure what will happen during the next few hours after the long-awaited vote, whose previous debate also tends to last without haste.
If one of the most pessimistic scenarios finally comes true and Congress fails to push through the 99-page legislative text in the vote of the congressmen of the House of Representatives, America is facing an uncertain and certainly dramatic future: suspension of payments. And not only the financial situation of the country would collapse. But, in addition, its resounding fall would consequently affect the world economy as a whole.
Although convinced of having the majority of the Republican votes in the House that he is president, Kevin McCarthy, He tried to ensure the support of the undecided until the last moment, encouraging his fellow party members to vote on the bill early on Wednesday from the Capitol “because it is the first step to change the way we spend money”.
The speaker of the House of Representatives has come under scrutiny this week, after the agreement reached with his political rivals, because according to the result of the vote his own position could be at risk. Rumors point to the possibility of withdrawing the trust placed in his leadership. Something to which the members of the conservative have started precisely House of Representatives Freedom Caucus.
the republican congressman Dan BishopsOutraged, he told the press that he has “none” confidence, “zero”, in McCarthy after the debt ceiling negotiation and just before the vote in the lower house. “If there was a deviation from this specific commitment to have a majority of the majority, then I think it would be a problem for the Speaker,” he said. Matt GaetzRepublican congressman from Florida, although acknowledging “not to be involved in any discussion about the removal of McCarthy from the presidency.”
Meanwhile, away from the Capitol, the two Republican candidates for the presidential race with the most options for their party, Donald Trump y Ron DeSantis, They incited their own ranks to vote “NO” on the bill that allows the debt ceiling to be expanded, despite the fact that with this the country could plunge into a catastrophic economic crisis.
A malaise that is not exceptional among the Republican ranks. A large part of the Democrats are also not happy with the bipartisan agreement reached to reach the vote on Wednesday. Liberal Congresswoman’s Office Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez He announced, the day before the meeting in Congress, the democrat’s intention to vote “NO”. Upset about negotiating with her political opponents, AOC represents the more progressive wing of the Democratic Party.
“I am angry because we are being held hostage. We are still being held hostage because we have no other choice.”he told the media Debbie Dingell. “It is the legacy of my husband, who wrote NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act), so I know how much we need to modernize it, but we must protect the ability of communities to participate in these decisions, and their impact on the environment as originally intended. ”, added the Democratic congresswoman from Michigan.
“Let them talk to me,” the president replied. Joe Biden to a White House correspondent who asked him about unrest among his own ranks. The Democratic leader, far beyond his negotiating ability to reach bipartisan agreements, is at stake for his political leadership and international reputation.
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