U.S. President Joe Biden addresses the nation on averting insolvency and a bipartisan budget deal within the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., June 2, 2023.
swimming pool | Via Reuters
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden gave his first speech from the Oval Office Friday night to debate a bill to lift the debt ceiling while cutting federal spending, calling it a “critical” deal. He signed the bill on Saturday.
“No one got every part they wanted, but Americans got what they needed. We prevented an economic crisis and an economic collapse,” Biden said.
The compromise debt ceiling bill passed the Senate by a vote of 63 to 36 on Thursday night, garnering enough bipartisan support to cross the 60-vote threshold within the House to avoid a filibuster. On Wednesday, it passed the House after about 72 hours, passing 314-117.
There’s little time left before a deal is struck: The Treasury Department estimated that the federal government would run out of cash on June 5 if the debt ceiling was not lifted.
“That is crucial,” Biden said. “Essential to all of the progress we have remodeled the past few years is to take care of the total faith and credit of the USA and pass a budget that continues to grow our economy and reflect our values as a nation.”
Without the deal, federal obligations like Social Security, medical care, and military payouts would not be shipped. And a failure to lift the debt ceiling would shake up global financial markets and cause US job losses
The bill comes after weeks of intense negotiations between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the White House. The ultimate deal gave the Conservatives several ideological political victories in return for his or her votes to lift the debt ceiling after next yr’s presidential election and until 2025.