US President Biden has announced a “final solution” to the debt dispute. However, the 99-page compromise with the Republicans still needs to be approved by Congress and is not without controversy.
Biden and McCarthy Compromise on Debt
US President Joe Biden and Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy have agreed on a compromise for a bill to avert US payment default. The bill includes 99 pages and calls for spending cuts as well as an increase in the amount the country can borrow.
Biden Urges Congress to Pass Compromise
Biden tweeted that “Speaker McCarthy and I have reached a bipartisan budget agreement that will avert the worst crisis – a payment default for the first time in our country’s history.” He called on Congress to pass the agreement immediately to raise the US debt limit until 2025 in exchange for significant spending cuts. The vote is scheduled for Wednesday.
Compromise Still Not Set in Stone
The draft must be passed by both chambers of Congress – the House of Representatives and the Senate – and signed by the president to prevent the US government from running out of money. However, the agreement is based on compromises that have already been criticized by both the far right of the Republicans and the left-wing of the Democrats.
Republican and Democratic Critics
Republican Rep. Tim Burchett has already said in an interview on CNN that he will not vote to further raise the debt ceiling. He stressed that the US must return to “financial sanity.” Both parties must ensure they are not overspending.
Critics could also emerge from the progressive wing of the Democratic party, who may oppose high budget cuts. Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost, also before the agreement was announced, stressed in a CNN interview that it was a difficult time because the debt issue was being used to advance a political agenda. The Republicans would link both because they could only get hard spending cuts through that way.