First modification:
The United States House of Representatives approved at midnight on December 15 the bill with which it avoids a default on its sovereign debt, just hours before the country would run out of funds to pay its obligations, according to the latest calculations by the Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen. The measure was also endorsed shortly before by the Senate and now must be signed by President Joe Biden for it to take effect.
The United States Congress authorized a $ 2.5 billion increase in the debt limit and prevented an unprecedented default on payments.
The House of Representatives, with a Democratic majority, approved the bill that endorses it in a vote of 221 in favor and 209 against.
The measure, which also allows the country to maintain its borrowing capacity until 2023, was sanctioned against the clock. This same December 15, the country would have been without approved funds to pay its obligations, according to the estimates of the Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen.
Shortly before the initiative received the green light in the Lower House, it was also supported in the Senate, but there the vote was much tighter: 50 legislators in favor and 49 against.
Now only the foreseeable enactment of President Joe Biden is missing for the plan to take effect.
The bipartisan maneuver
In general, in the Upper House 60 votes are necessary for the authorization of any measure. However, for this case the support of half of the senators, 100 in total, was sufficient due to a legislative maneuver endorsed between the two political parties last week, led by the leader of the Republicans in the Senate Mitch McConnel and the representative of the Democrats, Chuck Schumer.
Although both parties have considered it harmful to expand the debt ceiling, they recognized that not doing so would hit the country’s economy hard.
The country’s current debt burden is $ 28.9 billion and will now exceed $ 31 billion, a figure that has been accumulating for decades, primarily through popular spending programs such as Social Security and Medicare and interest on the debt.
But taxes are also a big factor, adding to a series of tax cuts enacted by presidents in recent decades.
DEBT CEILING: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says, “This is about paying debt accumulated by both parties, so I’m pleased Republicans and Democrats came together to facilitate a process that has made addressing the debt ceiling possible.” pic.twitter.com/xcuHLj9XBY
– Forbes (@Forbes) December 14, 2021
The recent increase is necessary in part to cover the commitments made during the Presidency of Donald Trump, when the debt increased by around 7.85 billion dollars, through tax cuts and expenses to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, from according to an analysis of Treasury records.
The United States has never defaulted on its financial obligations, but from time to time it faces the risk, because, unlike other countries, the Government can only increase the fund limit up to what is established by Congress. The issue has been seen many times as a strategy of each bench to measure its political pulse.
Now, the result of this Wednesday is considered a great victory for the progressive wing of the US Legislature since the blue movement will have enough time to overcome this thorny issue that should not be discussed again until after the elections of mid-term, scheduled for November 2022 and that will determine the control of Congress.
With Reuters, AP and EFE
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