2023-05-10 13:03:00
May 10, 2023 at 21:03 PM
On the 9th, US President Biden held negotiations with the Speaker of the House of Representatives and Republican McCarthy on the debt ceiling issue for the second time.
[China News Agency]After a lapse of 97 days, US President Biden held negotiations with the Speaker of the House of Representatives and Republican McCarthy on the debt ceiling issue for the second time on the 9th. The meeting ended with the two sides accusing each other of “endangering the United States”, and the only consensus was to talk about it in three days.
The U.S. government has less than three weeks left to avoid defaulting on its debt. The U.S. federal government debt reached the statutory debt limit of $31.4 trillion on January 19. The U.S. Treasury then took unconventional measures in response. But these measures can only support the US federal government to fulfill its obligations until early June.
On February 1 this year, Biden and McCarthy held a negotiation on the debt ceiling issue at the White House. At that time, the two sides were deadlocked on the plan of “cutting the government budget first and raising the debt ceiling later” advocated by the Republicans. With the White House insisting that Congress should “unconditionally raise the debt ceiling,” the House of Representatives, controlled by the Republican Party, passed a bill on April 26 to raise the debt ceiling, but added a cut in some government spending.
The negotiation on the afternoon of the 9th was chosen after the US stock market was closed. Biden met with four congressional leaders from the House and Senate, including McCarthy, in the Oval Office. After nearly an hour of closed-door consultations, the two sides made their own speeches, and the differences and wording around raising the debt ceiling showed no signs of weakening.
“I made it very clear in the meeting that default was not an option,” Biden said after the meeting, “but Speaker McCarthy proposed a very different path. He proposed deep cuts in government spending that I think would hurt American families.”
Biden revealed that the two sides agreed to continue negotiations on the debt ceiling issue, and he will meet with McCarthy again on May 12.
“Everyone reiterated their positions at the meeting, and I didn’t see any new developments,” McCarthy told reporters after walking out of the Oval Office. “I hope that Mr. President will really be willing to negotiate in the next two weeks. Solve problems, not push America to the brink.”
The so-called debt ceiling is the maximum amount of debt set by the U.S. Congress for the federal government to meet its incurred payment obligations. Hitting this “red line” means that the U.S. Treasury Department’s borrowing authority has been exhausted.
Regarding the possibility of the two parties in Congress passing short-term mandates to buy time for raising the debt ceiling, Biden said, “Except for default, any possibility is still on the table.” But before McCarthy went to the White House, he gave a negative answer to the media , showing a strong stance.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen warned on May 1 that the U.S. may default on its debt as early as June 1 if Congress does not take early action to raise the debt ceiling due to the delay in obtaining a borrowing authorization.
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