Debt ceiling in the US: this Wednesday the litmus test is in the House of Representatives

First modification: 05/31/2023 – 17:17

Representative Tom Emmer, the number three Republican in the House, woke up this May 31 with a conviction: the bill that suspends the debt ceiling will have the necessary votes on Wednesday from the representatives of his party, in a session which is forecast to be stormy.

The bill that suspends the debt limit of the United States to avoid a possible ‘default’ as of June 5 was approved by the Committee on Rules of the House of Representatives and sent to the plenary session, where it could meet with certain opposition.

Last Tuesday, May 30, the House Rules Committee gave a first blessing to the bill, with seven votes in favor to six against, two Republicans and four Democrats. This Wednesday’s turn is for the congressmen of the House of Representatives, with a Republican majority, some of them fierce opponents of the initiative.

The proposed legislation would suspend the US debt limit until January 1, 2025, allowing President Joe Biden and lawmakers to put political discussion on hold until after the November 2024 presidential election.

The point for Republicans is that, in exchange for giving up on the debt ceiling, the bill would limit some government spending over the next two years, speed up permitting for some energy projects, recover Covid-19 funds not used and would expand the work requirements for food aid programs.

An agreement that exposes partisan divisions

The current bill is the fruit of weeks of intense, high-level bipartisan negotiations, with President Biden and Republican leader Kevin McCarthy at the helm. However, when he reached the legislative bosom he met with fierce opposition from the most radical wings of both parties.

During Tuesday’s debate, Republican Rep. Chip Roy complained that much larger budget savings were not achieved, as many conservatives had hoped, adding that the bill also failed to reverse Biden’s vigorous spending to combat the effects of climate change. .

Byron Donalds, a Republican representative, assured that “there are some concerns. That’s one of the reasons I’m voting ‘no,’ because I think what this bill does is allow Janet Yellen to borrow more than $4 trillion.”

“Aside from the $12 billion cut in non-Defense discretionary spending, there are no other real major adjustments here. So I’m trying to figure out exactly why conservatives should be happy,” he concluded.

The last time the United States came this close to default was in 2011, a time of similar partisan division in Washington, with a Democratic president and a majority in the Senate and a Republican-majority House.

With Reuters, AP and EFE