The leader of the Republican majority of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, affirmed this Saturday that the agreement with the Government of Joe Biden in order to raise the debt ceiling “is close”, since the negotiations have advanced remarkably during the last hours.
“I feel closer than ever to an agreement,” the Republican said this morning to the press upon his arrival at the US Capitol, where the negotiations are taking place.
Although the deal “isn’t there yet” and there are “some things” still to be finished, he said, he is convinced it will be done before the June 5 deadline.
In fact, it could even be announced today, although when it is achieved it will have to follow the 72-hour rule, which gives lawmakers three days to read the text before voting on it. Therefore, even if an agreement were reached today, it would not be voted on until next Tuesday, McCarthy explained.
These words of optimism are in line with those pronounced on Friday night by President Joe Biden, who said he felt “very optimistic” about the possibility of an agreement being reached with the Republicans to raise the debt ceiling soon.
“Things are looking good, I am very optimistic,” said the president before leaving by helicopter for Camp David, the rest residence of the US president.
These comments are the first he made after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen updated her estimate of the deadline after which the country could be locked into default if Congress does not first agree to raise or suspend the debt ceiling.
Yellen informed Congress this Friday that the date will be June 5, four days later than the estimates she had previously made.
The possible agreement would raise the debt ceiling for two years and would impose maximum discretionary government spending, as published in recent days by media such as The New York Times.
The debt limit is the total amount of money the United States Government is authorized to borrow to meet its existing legal obligations to pay Social Security and Medicare benefits, military salaries, interest on the national debt , tax refunds and other payments.
From time to time, the United States faces default on its national debt because, unlike other countries, the government can only issue debt up to the limit set by Congress, which has the power to raise that ceiling as it sees fit.
On January 19, the country reached its legal debt limit of $31.4 trillion dollars (millions of millions or trillions in English), equivalent to 29 trillion euros, which led the Treasury Department to resort to extraordinary measures since then. to pay the bills, suspending some payments to the retirement funds of federal employees and to the social security of postal employees, among others.
The use of these special financial tools can be extended until June 5, at which time the United States would go into suspension of payments, if Republicans and Democrats do not reach an agreement.
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