Pact on US debt ceiling faces crucial days

The president of the United States, Joe Biden, said he was “very comfortable” with the agreement on the debt ceiling and the budget negotiated with the speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, while the White House and congressional leaders worked to secure approval this week, in time to raise the nation’s debt limit and avoid a disastrous federal default.

Biden spent part of the Memorial Day holiday working on the phone, calling lawmakers from both parties to help win votes.

Several right-wing conservatives criticize the deal for failing to provide the deep spending cuts they wanted, while liberals questioned policy changes such as new work requirements for older Americans enrolled in the food aid plan.

The moment of truth will come Tuesday afternoon, when the House Rules Committee is scheduled to meet to study the package and vote on whether to send it to the full house for a vote scheduled for Wednesday.

“I’m very happy with the deal,” Biden told reporters Monday as he left Washington for his home in Delaware.

“I’ve spoken to a number of members,” he added, including Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who in the past has been an important ally in bipartisan deals but this time has been virtually sidelined. “I’ve talked to a lot of people, and it feels good.”

For progressive Democrats who have raised reservations about the package, the president has a simple message: “Talk to me.”

As lawmakers mull over the 99-page bill, few are expected to be fully satisfied with the final product. But Biden, a Democrat, and McCarthy, a Republican, are counting on winning majority support from the political center. It’s not often that a divided Washington comes together to avoid a catastrophic federal default.

Wall Street will offer its own assessment of the deal early on Tuesday, as US financial markets, closed when it was reached over the weekend, will begin to react.

McCarthy acknowledged that the difficult compromise reached with Biden will not be “what nobody wants 100%”, since he leads a slim majority in the House promoted by far-right conservatives.

Given the possible rejection of his ranks, the speaker of the House will have to trust more than half of the Democrats and Republicans to get the debt ceiling package approved.

Overall, the deal is a compromise that will impose some spending cuts over the next two years, plus a suspension of the debt limit until January 2025, leaving this volatile issue until after the next election campaign. Raising the debt limit, which is now at 31 trillion dollars, will allow the Treasury to continue borrowing to pay the debts already contracted by the State.

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