The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

The American Congress avoids in extremis a paralysis of the federal state

2021-12-03T07:06:48.282Z


This text was the subject of fierce negotiations, a handful of elected Republicans having tried to bring about a paralysis of the federal services.


Joe Biden must promulgate this Friday the budget of the United States, voted in Congress which, at the end of long days of negotiation, avoided in extremis a paralysis of the federal services.

By 69 votes to 28, the Senate approved Thursday evening a finance law which extends the current budget until February 18, adopted a few hours earlier in the House of Representatives.

This text was the subject of fierce negotiations in the United States Congress, a handful of elected Republicans having tried to bring about a paralysis of the federal services - if only for a few days - to protest against the vaccine obligations put in place by the government Biden.

It is now up to the Democratic President to promulgate this budget before midnight in order to prevent federal state funding from being suddenly cut, forcing hundreds of thousands of technically unemployed workers.

America lives on credit

Anxious to avoid this very unpopular situation among Americans, President Biden and parliamentary officials, Democrats and Republicans, had urged their troops to fall into line and approve this text without delay.

The leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate Chuck Schumer welcomed this rare moment of union in a Congress usually subscribed to partisan quarrels.

"I thank the elected representatives of this chamber for protecting us from unnecessary and costly paralysis," he said.

This risk now removed, elected officials must immediately thwart an equally crucial threat: they have until December 15 to increase the debt capacity of the United States in order to avoid the first sovereign default of the world's largest economic power. .

Otherwise America could find itself strapped for cash and unable to meet its payments, a potentially catastrophic situation that major powers around the world are watching closely.

The United States, which like almost all major economies have been living on credit for decades in terms of public spending, have already repeatedly raised this famous "ceiling".

Social and ecological investments wanted by Joe Biden

But the Republicans began during the Obama presidency to use this routine legislative procedure as an instrument of political pressure.

This time they refuse to give the green light to a suspension of the debt limit, which, according to them, would amount to writing a blank check to Joe Biden to finance his investment projects.

And urge Democrats to approve it alone, through a laborious parliamentary maneuver, accusing Camp Biden of contributing to record inflation that Americans are very sensitive to during Christmas shopping.

If Congress manages to get rid of these sites in time, it will finally be able to debate the gigantic component of social and ecological investments wanted by Joe Biden, which the White House is impatiently awaiting.

This $ 1,750 billion project, which includes free kindergarten for all and generous funding to reduce American greenhouse gas emissions, has been blocked for months in the American Parliament.

But Joe Biden is desperately counting on these measures, very popular with Americans according to the polls, to revive his presidency.

The leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate has pledged that this text be adopted before Christmas.

This scenario, like so many others in Congress, remains very uncertain for the time being.

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2021-12-03

You may like

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-27T16:45:54.081Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.