Voting has started as lawmakers agree on a debt limit deal
The Senate has passed a bipartisan agreement forged by US President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to raise the $31.4 trillion US debt ceiling after the deal survived a Republican rebellion in the House of Representatives.
The Fiscal Responsibility Act, which will also implement new federal spending cuts, cleared the lower chamber with 314 votes in favour and 117 against on Wednesday.
The narrowness of its passage through the House was made possible through the support of Democrats, who stepped in to thwart a conservative revolt that badly undermined Speaker McCarthy’s claims to control his increasingly divided party.
On Thursday, the Senate rejected 11 proposed amendments before passing the bill 63 for to 36 against. Majority leader Chuck Schumer will now send the bill to President Biden’s desk for his signature.
Full congressional approval was required before Monday 5 June, when the Treasury Department was expected to run out of funds to pay its debts for the first time in American history, triggering likely economic chaos.
President Biden has scheduled an Oval Office address for 7pm on Friday to talk to the nation about the debt deal, budget, and likey today’s good jobs report.
Still threatened by far right, underestimated McCarthy emerges from debt deal empowered as speaker
Underestimated from the start, the Republican who cruised around his California hometown of Bakersfield and stumbled into a career in Congress was never taken too seriously by the Washington establishment.
With overwhelming House passage of the debt ceiling and budget deal he negotiated with President Joe Biden, the emergent speaker proved the naysayers and eye-rollers otherwise. A relentless force, he pushed a reluctant White House to the negotiating table and delivered the votes from his balky House GOP majority to seal the deal.
Oliver O’Connell2 June 2023 21:00
Voices: Maybe, just maybe, ‘Sleepy Joe’ Biden is good at this bipartisan negotiation stuff
To be sure, Mr Biden is the oldest person to ever occupy the Oval Office and his penchant for making nonsensical comments goes back to when he was the youngest Senator ever elected in recent history in 1972.
But given the fact that Mr Biden will have a debt limit increase head to his desk for his signature after a high-stakes few weeks of negotiations, perhaps it is time for his conservative critics to admit that the president actually knows what he is doing when it comes to working with the legislative branch and Congress as a whole.
Oliver O’Connell2 June 2023 20:36
Biden readies veto as Senate passes GOP bill overturning student loan cancellation
A Republican measure overturning President Joe Biden‘s student loan cancellation plan passed the Senate on Thursday and now awaits an expected veto.
The vote was 52-46, with support from Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana as well as Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent. The resolution was approved last week by the GOP-controlled House by a 218-203 vote.
Biden has pledged to keep in place his commitment to cancel up to $20,000 in federal student loans for 43 million people. The legislation adds to Republican criticism of the plan, which was halted in November in response to lawsuits from conservative opponents.
Oliver O’Connell2 June 2023 20:15
Debt ceiling deal aside, Fitch still has negative ratings watch for US
The ratings agency cited the “steady deterioration in governance over the last 15 years”.
Oliver O’Connell2 June 2023 19:30
Biden statement on May jobs report: 13 million jobs created since taking office
The White House released the following statement from President Joe Biden on the May jobs report:
Today is a good day for the American economy and American workers. We learned this morning that the economy created 339,000 jobs last month. We have now created over 13 million jobs since I took office. That is more jobs in 28 months than any President has created in an entire 4-year term. We also learned that the unemployment rate has been under 4 per cent for 16 months in a row. The last time our nation had such a long stretch of low unemployment was in the 1960s. And the share of working-age Americans in the workforce is at its highest level in 16 years. Meanwhile, the annual inflation rate has fallen for 10 months in a row, and it’s down more than 40 percent since last summer. During that time, take-home pay for workers has gone up, even after accounting for inflation. In short, the Biden economic plan is…
Read More: Debt ceiling vote latest: Biden to address nation and sign debt limit bill after