In the midst of warnings about a possible ‘default’ in the United States (a default on its debts as of June 1), the president of that country, Joe Biden, said that noor they will negotiate with the Republicans to modify the debt ceiling in Congress.
(Read here: The world economy is on alert: the US could default on June 1)
The statements of the White House are known a day after the Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, He warned that the country could default on the national debt and urged Congress to approve a suspension of the debt ceiling as soon as possible.
(See also: US Banking Turmoil: Why Did First Republic Bank Fail?)
Yellen stressed that, given these forecasts, it is “imperative” that Congress act as soon as possible to guarantee in the long term the certainty that the Government will be able to continue counting on funds to face the payments.
The Treasury representative sent an identical letter, among others, to the leader of the Democrats in the Lower House, Hakeem Jeffries; the leader of the Senate, Chuck Schumer, also a Democrat, and the conservative Mitch McConnell, the main figure of the Republican opposition in that chamber.
“We don’t have the luxury of waiting until June 1 to come together, pass a clean bill to prevent default and avoid catastrophic consequences for our economy and millions of American families,” Schumer and Jeffries said in a joint statement.
What does it mean that Biden does not negotiate with the Republicans?
If the debt ceiling is not raised, the federal government would run out of money and be unable to pay its debts on June 1, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
The White House spokeswoman said Biden was willing to discuss “a separate process to address budget cuts” but said the debt ceiling issue needed to be dropped entirely.
Biden invited the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, to meet next week at the White House to settle the controversy. However, the president refuses to link the Republican spending cut goals with the procedure that allows for greater public borrowing.
“It is the constitutional duty of Congress to avoid default,” he said. “Given the short time Congress now has, it is clear that the only practical way to avoid default is for Congress to unconditionally suspend the debt limit,” he said.
In addition, Biden considers McCarthy’s proposed spending cuts “unreasonable” and “dangerous,” the spokeswoman said.
In the House of Representatives, where they have a slim majority, Republicans approved a bill that would allow more borrowing in exchange for sharp spending cuts on various government programs. That project has no chance of being approved in the Senate, where the Democrats are in the majority.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With AFP and Efe
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