United States Congress reached agreement to avoid default

U.S. Senators reached an agreement on Thursday to avert a catastrophic default after Democrats accepted a Republican offer to raise the debt ceiling for two months, Senior Democrat Chuck Schumer said.

“We have reached an agreement to extend the debt ceiling until the beginning of December, and we hope to be able to achieve it today.», Announced Schumer, leader of the democratic majority in the Senate.

The Treasury Secretary had warned that the country would default on Oct. 18 if Congress did not raise the limit, which would trigger a recession and maximum uncertainty in the markets.

En la víspera, el líder de la minoría republicana del Senado, Mitch McConnell, propuso la aprobación de una extensión de emergencia del techo de la deuda lo antes posible para despejar el problema hasta diciembre, dando tiempo al gobierno demócrata para preparar una solución Long term. “To protect the American people from a short-term crisis created by the Democrats, we will allow the Democrats to use normal procedures to approve an extension of the emergency debt limit to a fixed dollar amount to cover the levels current spending until December, “McConnell said.

This after the president, Joe Biden shines the spotlight directly on the opposition, calling it “irresponsible” and “dangerous” for failing to close the possibility of default, and accused them of “playing Russian roulette” with the economy and financial reputation of the United States.

The US debt ceiling stands at about $ 28,000 million, and raising or removing it is the sole function of Congress, which has raised it several times in recent decades. During the Obama presidency, Republicans began to use this routine legislative process as an instrument of political pressure.

The deal sets the stage for some sort of sequel in December, as Congress again faces pressing deadlines to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling before heading home for the holidays.

“Basically I’m happy that Mitch McConnell has finally seen the light, ”said Bernie Sanders., the independent senator from Vermont. The Republicans “have finally done the right thing and at least now we have a few more months to get a permanent solution.”

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, added that, assuming the final details of emergency legislation are in order, “for the next three months, we will continue to make it clear that we are ready to continue voting for pay our bills and Republicans won’t.

As expected, McConnell portrayed him very differently.. “This will make the Democrats’ apologies for the time constraints they have created unnecessary and give the United Democratic government more than enough time to pass independent debt limitation through reconciliation legislation,” he said. he declares.

(With information from AFP and AP)

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