With just two days to spare, President Joe Biden has signed legislation that lifts the nation’s debt ceiling, averting an economically disastrous default on the federal government’s debt.
The White House announced the signing on Saturday, done in private at the White House, in an emailed statement in which Biden thanked congressional leaders for their partnership.
The Department of the Treasury had warned the country would start running short of cash to pay all of its bills on Monday, which would have sent shockwaves through the US and global economies.
Republicans had refused to raise the country’s borrowing limit unless Democrats agreed to cut spending, leading to a standoff that was not resolved until weeks of intense negotiations between the White House and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
The final agreement, passed by the House on Wednesday and the Senate on Thursday, suspends the debt limit until 2025 – after the next presidential election – and restricts government spending. It gives lawmakers budget targets for the next two years in hopes of assuring fiscal stability as the political season heats up.
Raising the nation’s debt limit, now at $31.4 trillion, will ensure the government can borrow to pay debts already incurred.
“Passing this budget agreement was critical. The stakes could not have been higher,” Biden said from the Oval Office on Friday evening. “Nothing would have been more catastrophic,” than defaulting on the country’s debt, he said.
“No one got everything they wanted but the American people got what they needed,” Biden said, highlighting the “compromise and consensus” in the deal. “We averted an economic crisis and an economic collapse.”
Biden used the opportunity to itemise the achievements of his first term as he runs for re-election, including support for high-tech manufacturing, infrastructure investments and financial incentives for fighting climate change. He also highlighted ways he blunted Republican efforts to roll back his agenda and achieve deeper cuts. (AlJazeera)