(Washington) Joe Biden on Sunday deemed the Republican proposals “unacceptable” in the context of the tense negotiations on the American debt ceiling, while believing that a solution could still be found to avoid the United States defaulting on payment .
“It’s time for the other side to drop their extreme positions, because much of what they’ve already offered is simply, frankly, unacceptable,” Biden said from Hiroshima, Japan, where he was attending the G7 leaders summit.
Almost every major economy has lived on credit for decades. The United States has already raised the debt ceiling – the country’s maximum amount of debt – a prerogative of Congress on numerous occasions. But the Republicans refuse this year to rally to Joe Biden, assuring that this would amount to giving a blank check to the Democratic president.
Joe Biden has said he will speak directly with Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader, on his plane trip home on Sunday, saying they can “find a deal”.
But he also thinks of the possibility of using the constitutional weapon to avoid a default of payment of the country. “I lean on the 14e amendment,” Biden said.
This article of the American Constitution states that “the validity of the public debt of the United States […] should not be called into question”, which theoretically makes it possible to circumvent the obligation to raise its ceiling even if this interpretation is very controversial among lawyers.
“I think we have the power. The question is can it be done and invoked in time, ”he added, referring to the possible legal battles and the very close deadline.
Without an agreement, the United States could find itself in default of payment from the 1er June, with potentially catastrophic consequences for the US economy, and even the world.
“Step Back”
The negotiations took place in the absence of Joe Biden, who cut short his Asia-Pacific tour due to this debt crisis, returning to Washington on Sunday without going through Japan and Australia as planned.
Republicans are demanding drastic government budget cuts before giving the green light to raising the debt ceiling.
The Republican team put on the table Friday night “an offer that was a big step backwards and contained a set of extreme partisan demands that could never be passed in both houses of Congress,” the door said in a statement. -speaker of the White House, Karine Jean-Pierre, calling to “be serious”.
And, according to her, it is the Republican officials under the thumb of those close to Donald Trump “who [menacent] to put our nation in default for the first time in our history”, but “not the president [Joe Biden] nor the Democratic leaders”.
Mr. McCarthy told him Saturday evening, in a tweet, that “the White House has taken a step back in the negotiations”.
“Unfortunately, the left wing of the Democratic Party seems to be in charge, especially with President Biden out of the country,” he lamented.
Joe Biden felt that Mr. McCarthy was probably waiting for his return to resume discussions: “I think he wants to deal directly with me,” commented the American president on Sunday.
Raise the taxes
The point of friction between the two camps: the request of the Republicans to reduce federal spending, to bring them back to the level of 2022. That is to say, cut 130 billion dollars in spending.
“We can’t spend more money next year,” said Kevin McCarthy.
A red line that the Democrats refuse to cross.
The Biden administration, for its part, is proposing to cut spending while increasing taxes for the wealthiest and companies which today benefit from generous tax rebates. But Republicans don’t want tax hikes.
“It is on this point that we have major disagreements, on the revenue side,” the president said on Sunday.
He warned that on the 14e Amendment wasn’t a magic weapon, as he couldn’t be sure he could summon it in time.
“We haven’t found a one-sided plan that could succeed in two or three weeks. This is the problem. So it will depend on the legislators, ”he added.