Following Joe Biden’s claim, Republicans made a proposal to avoid US default

The US Senate postponed the vote on Wednesday to avoid US debt default, while the Democratic Party the offer presented by the Republican Party which could defuse a partisan confrontation that threatens the economy as a whole.

Democrats suspended a vote in the early afternoon and called a closed-door meeting, after the Republican House leader, Mitch mcconnell, presented a plan that would allow more time to resolve the issue.

Without congressional action raise the debt ceiling to $ 28.4 trillion, the Treasury Department predicted it would run out of funds to pay off all of its obligations on October 18.

It is not clear at this time whether Democrats will accept McConnell’s offer.

After pressure from US President Joe Biden, the Republican Party proposed an increase until December of the debt ceiling of the United States, according to a press release sent on Wednesday, which avoid dangerous default of the world’s largest economy.

McConnell proposed approval of an emergency debt ceiling extension as soon as possible to address the issue until December, giving the Democratic government time to prepare a longer term solution.

The offer could give way to a month-long clash Between President Joe Biden’s Democrats and McConnell’s Republicans, which was to block a Wednesday third try by Senate Democrats to raise the debt ceiling by $ 28.4 trillion.

“To protect the American people from a crisis created by the Democrats in the short term, we will also allow the Democrats to use normal procedures to approve an emergency extension of the debt ceiling by a fixed dollar amount to cover the current spending levels through December “McConnell said in a statement released Wednesday.

In the midst of tense negotiations Biden confirmed he will cut his social spending plan. It will not be 3.5 trillion dollars as proposed by the head of state, but the new amount would be around 2000 billion dollars., although progressive sectors demand that the reduction be less.

The president cannot cede any of the 50 votes in the Senate to approve the bill. “I wanna make sure we got a package everyone can agree onBiden told reporters. “It will not be 3.5 trillion. it will be less”. And he added: “We will.”

There were strong signs on Capitol Hill that Democrats were rallying to Biden’s proposal to push through a $ 2,000 billion plan. a figure that seemed potentially acceptable to Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, the only two to have expressed their objection to high public spending. With all the republicans against Biden cannot lose the approval of any senator from his party.

At the same time, new battle lines have formed as Democrats decide Which of the many programs they want to develop – health, education, child care, climate change? they will stay in the final proposition, they will be reduced or they will be left out.

Democrats control both houses of Congress, but barely. They need 10 Republican votes to overcome a Senate obstruction, and the opposition has made it clear that it won’t help them raise the debt ceiling.

The fight takes place amid negotiations over the two trillion dollar spending bills that make up the corner stone of the Biden government.

Republicans argue they will not raise the debt ceiling to pay these bills, but the cap would have to be increased anyway to pay for spending approved by past Republican and current Democratic administrations.

Republicans want Democrats to pass a raise with their own votes, using the so-called “reconciliationIn Congress, but it could take weeks and Democratic leaders They continue to insist that Republicans join them in avoiding default.

Faced with this refusal, the president accused Tuesday the conservative formation of “refusing to do its job” and to “threaten” the will of the government to “save the economy from a catastrophic event”.

Regarding the agreement between the two parties, Biden recalled that “raising the debt ceiling was once a bipartisan compromise“So he appealed to that spirit to get Republicans to approve a measure that is meant to resolve.”the reckless fiscal and spending policies of the previous Trump administration (former President Donald)”.

“Congressional Republicans increased their debt three times when Donald Trump was president and each time with the support of the Democrats. From now on, they will not increase it despite the fact that they are responsible for more than eight billion dollars – approximately 6.9 billion euros – of invoices incurred in four years under the administration, ”he said. he declares.

The United States has never defaulted on its debt, and it is the backbone of the global economic system. The consensus among analysts is that non-payment would be a self-inflicted injury that would undermine the recovery of the economy after the COVID-19 pandemic, and possibly cause permanent damage to the United States’ international standing.

(With information from Reuters and AFP)

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