(Washington) An agreement was reached on Tuesday to allow the US Congress to vote soon on raising the debt ceiling and thus avoid a US default, an imminent threat with potentially catastrophic consequences.
The debt ceiling is the maximum amount of debt of the United States. Set by the US Congress, it must be lifted or suspended by December 15, otherwise the United States would no longer be able to honor payments to its creditors overnight and would have to cut spending.
This unprecedented situation would plunge American finance and economy, but also, by extension, international ones into the unknown and could cause a recession.
The United States, which like almost all major economies has lived on credit for decades in terms of public spending, has already repeatedly raised this famous “ceiling”, which normally requires the support of Democrats and Republicans. .
But the Republican camp refuses this time to give its assent to this procedure, assuring that it would amount to giving a blank check to Joe Biden, at the same time as they accuse him of contributing to runaway inflation.
After weeks of negotiations, they finally gave their approval on Tuesday to a complex and exceptional parliamentary procedure, thanks to which the Democrats would only need their votes to raise the debt ceiling in the Senate.
“I think it is in the best interests of the country” to avoid a default, the powerful Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday.
Gigantic social and ecological plan
The procedure was validated by a vote in the House of Representatives Tuesday evening, which will allow the Senate to raise the debt ceiling at the end of the week. The lower house will then have to validate this increase in its turn, all before December 15.
The urgency is twofold. Because in addition to this deadline, Congress needs to get rid of this site as quickly as possible to tackle the gigantic social and ecological plan of Joe Biden, thanks to which the president promises to “rebuild [l’Amérique] better “.
This $ 1,750 billion project, which includes free kindergarten for all and generous funding to reduce American greenhouse gas emissions, has been blocked for months in the American Parliament.
The Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer reiterated on Tuesday his desire to offer Joe Biden this political victory “before the Christmas holidays”.