The president of the United States, Joe Biden, declared on Friday that the country avoided a crisis in his first speech from the Oval Office of the White House, after Congress gave the go-ahead to lift the ceiling on the country’s debt. The president reported that the bill will be signed on Saturday. In addition, he highlighted what he considered the main successes of his management.
First modification:
After arduous negotiations, both the Senate and the House of Representatives approved this week a bill that raises the ceiling on public debt currently limited to 31.4 billion dollars.
The final vote in both chambers was decisive. The Senate voted 63 in favor and 36 against, and the House 314 in favor and 117 against.
Biden affirmed that, in order to preserve the economic progress of the United States, it was essential to keep intact the full faith and credit of the country. According to the president, the new law averted a crisis.
“The stakes couldn’t be higher,” Biden said, adding that if the United States had defaulted, “eight million people would have been out of a job.”
On the other hand, Biden affirmed that to preserve the economic progress of the United States it was crucial to keep the credibility and credit of the country intact.
President The Democrat assured that he would sign the bill into law on Saturday, ending months of uncertainty and avoiding what would have been the first default in US history on June 5.
A deal was critical, and that’s very good news for the American people. No one got everything they wanted. But the American people got what they needed, declared Biden sitting in the historic oval office.
The debate on the expansion of the debt ceiling to avoid a ‘default’ further polarized the Democratic and Republican caucuses. The first accused their opponents of wanting to sabotage the negotiation between Biden and the speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy.
What is the extension of the debt ceiling?
The bill suspends the government’s maximum debt limit until 2025. However, the consequences of the agreement are reflected in the most economically vulnerable people who depend on food stamps, since there will be new requirements that toughen access to these. According to official estimates, there are 42 million people in the United States who have access to food stamps and five million of them are Hispanic.
The agreement also freezes state spending, except for the Department of Defense and the veterans community. In addition, it imposes certain work requirements for some people who use public benefits.
But for some Republican congressmen, the cuts achieved in the negotiation between McCarthy and Biden are not enough. The Republican for the state of Colorado, Kevin Buck, ruled that it was a Republican surrender against Biden; while his South Carolina State counterpart, Ralph Norman, said it was “crazy.”
Biden’s unusual speech in the oval office
The president, who is running for re-election, recalled other bipartisan bills he has signed and praised McCarthy, his main negotiating partner.
Biden seized the moment to call on Americans to put aside their divisions, saying his commitment to the top Republican in Congress showed what could be done.
“No matter how tough our politics, we must see each other not as adversaries, but as fellow Americans,” he said. In addition, he called on Americans: “Stop yelling, turn down the heat, and work together to make progress.”
Typically, US presidents have reserved their Oval Office speeches for the most significant and dramatic events: the attacks of September 11, 2001, for example, or the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger.
The White House said Biden was making his remarks there because of the seriousness of the situation if the debt ceiling was not raised.
Former President Ronald Reagan addressed the nation from the Oval Office following the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986. Later, former President George W. Bush used the location to address the country following the attacks of September 11, 2001. For his On the other hand, former President Barack Obama made remarks from the Oval Office following the BP oil spill on the Gulf Coast in 2010.
With Reuters, AP and local media
