(Washington) A leading Republican leader said on Thursday that he saw “a breakthrough” in the talks to avoid a default by the United States, but political tensions continue, even within the conservative camp and the Democratic Party.
The government expects the federal debt ceiling to be reached as soon as 1er June, if Congress does not vote, as it has to, to raise it.
This is raising fears that the world’s largest economy will default on debt repayments, triggering a global financial storm, and strangling both growth and jobs in the country.
“We haven’t agreed to anything yet – but I see a breakthrough where we could come to an agreement,” said Republican House boss Kevin McCarthy, who had never been heard so confident.
The Tory won the House Speaker’s gavel in January by promising his party’s most right-wing elected officials that there would be no increase in the borrowing limit without sizeable cuts in public spending.
” Period “
However, these same Trumpist parliamentarians, gathered in a group called the “Freedom Caucus”, asked him on Thursday not to make any more concessions to Democratic President Joe Biden, and to defend the Republican project of budgetary austerity as it is. .
“No more discussions to dilute it. Full stop,” the group claimed on Twitter.
The White House, for its part, points out that the debt ceiling has been raised dozens of times without budget negotiations. She accuses the Republicans of holding the American economy “hostage” and of wanting to sacrifice a number of social benefits.
“Congress must not trigger this crisis,” repeated Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday, arguing that this famous debt ceiling had been raised three times during Donald Trump’s presidency.
Joe Biden has named two special negotiators on the file. The American president, who is taking part in the G7 Summit in Japan, has also cut short a diplomatic tour planned in the process, in order to return to Washington on Sunday to oversee the discussions.
He has already brought together key parliamentary leaders twice in the Oval Office.
Any deal must pass the Republican-led House and the Democratic-majority Senate before the deadline; however, the parliamentary calendar is such that session days are rare.
Kevin McCarthy considered it “important to try to have an agreement – especially on the principle – by this weekend”.
To do this, Joe Biden will also have to ensure that his party remains in tight ranks.
Constitution
Some Senate Democrats are pushing him to force through, invoking the 14e amendment to the Constitution, which would allow it to continue issuing government bonds even without a vote of Congress.
Eleven senators, led by Bernie Sanders, a progressive figure, published a letter on Thursday denouncing the “massive budget cuts” demanded by the Republicans, which “would cause incalculable damage to the lives of workers”.
PHOTO MARIAM ZUHAIB, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders on Thursday
Believing that an agreement is “apparently impossible at this stage” in view of the Tories’ demands, they “urge [à Joe Biden] to prepare to exercise its prerogatives under the 14e amendment of the Constitution”.
This text states that “the validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, […] should not be questioned”.
To have recourse to it would mean for Joe Biden to engage in a long legal battle with an uncertain outcome. So far the president does not consider it to resolve the current crisis, but has promised to study the feasibility of this constitutional strategy in the longer term.