First modification:
There are less than six days left before the United States defaults, according to Treasury Department estimates. Democrats and Republicans are advancing in negotiations on Capitol Hill, while they try to define the lines of the budget agreement necessary for the divided Congress to approve the increase in the debt limit, which currently stands at USD 31.4 trillion.
“We have been going to the White House all day (…) Every hour matters,” he stressed Republican Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House of Representatives, on tense talks with President Joe Biden’s negotiating team, ahead of a festive weekend in which the parties hope to find common ground amid their differences and while many of the politicians will leave the capital for the Memorial Day holiday.
“It’s difficult, but we’re working and we’re going to keep working until we get this done,” he added as he left the White House.
And it is that legislators are not expected to return until Tuesday, May 30. If an agreement is not reached during this weekend, by then there will be only two days left until the limit of the feared breach of the responsibilities of the federal government, on Thursday, June 1.
In addition to the Senate recess, Biden will also be away this weekend, leaving Friday for the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, and Sunday for his home in Wilmington, Delaware.
No deal has resulted after weeks of negotiations between Republicans and the White House, in part because the Biden Administration resisted negotiating with McCarthy, arguing that the country’s full faith and credit should not be used as leverage to extract other partisan priorities.
This Friday, May 26, the US president said: “No American should have to make a choice between putting food on the table and going to the doctor. Our investment in making health care more affordable will lower health insurance costs for 13 million Americans covered by the Affordable Care Act.”
No American should have to make a decision between putting food on the table and going to the doctor.
Our investment in making health care more affordable will bring down health insurance costs for 13 million Americans covered under the Affordable Care Act.
—President Biden (@POTUS) May 26, 2023
The two sides may agree to raise the debt ceiling, on the condition that federal spending be capped for two years, according to US officials familiar with the matter.
For her part, the White House spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, assured Thursday at a press conference that the suspension of payments “is not on the table”.
If Washington keeps spending as recklessly as President Biden wants, the United States will pay more in interest in the next 10 years than we did in the previous 83 years.
Can’t let that happen. pic.twitter.com/kvMlmBdRTb
—Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) May 26, 2023
According to McCarthy, the spokesman for the Republicans, “President Biden does not believe that there can be a single dollar of savings in the federal government budget. He would rather be the first president in history to default on debt than risk upsetting the radical socialists who are running the Democrats right now.”
With Reuters and AP
