(Washington) Democrats and Republicans seemed close to an agreement on Saturday to avoid a default by the United States before the new deadline of June 5, but the negotiations still stumble on final points.
On Friday evening, US President Joe Biden was “optimistic” about the prospects for an agreement with the Republican opposition, stressing that negotiators on both sides were “very close” to concluding.
Discussions continued on Saturday and progressed, but negotiators are stumbling over final details of the agreement that everyone considers to be red lines.
Asked Saturday morning to find out if there would be an agreement before the deadline, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy replied: “yes”.
“I think we can really get there,” he told reporters, warning that there were sticking points.
PHOTO J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy
The United States, which entered the long weekend of Memorial Day, Veterans Day on Monday, remains suspended on an agreement to raise the debt ceiling, essential to avoid the default that would have catastrophic consequences. for the global economy.
The date on which the US Treasury will find itself unable to honor its financial commitments is now set for June 5, down from June 1.er June before, giving the country a few days of respite.
Red lines
Among the points of disagreement between the two camps is the requirement of the Republicans to condition certain social benefits.
“I don’t think it’s right to borrow money from China to pay people who are healthy and don’t have dependents to hang out on their couch,” said McCarthy, who poses as an uncompromising defender of fiscal discipline, in a video shared on Saturday.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates criticized him for wanting to hold the economy hostage and jeopardize “more than eight million jobs” while wanting to “take the bread out of the mouth. hungry Americans.
Joe Biden, campaigning for his re-election, positions himself as a champion of social and fiscal justice and has repeatedly said he is opposed to massive budget cuts which would impact the most precarious workers and households.
One of the Republican negotiators Patrick McHenry referred to a “short list of disagreements” remaining between the two camps. “It’s a matter of hours or days,” he said on Saturday.
The pressure surrounding the negotiations is all the stronger as the compromise, once obtained, will have to be validated by the Senate and the House of Representatives.
However, many elected officials returned to their strongholds for a few days on the occasion of the Memorial Day holiday weekend and could be recalled to Washington urgently.
Also looms the threat of seeing the agreement shunned in Congress, elected progressives from the Democratic Party, like some elected from the Republican Party, having threatened not to ratify or to delay as much as possible a text that would make too many concessions to the opposing camp.
On Friday, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said a deal was “critical” for the global economy, while stressing that the United States needed to do “more to reduce public debt”.