By reaching its debt ceiling, the United States plunges into uncertainty

The debt ceiling of the United States, which was reached on Thursday and obliges the American Department of Finance to take savings measures to ensure the payment of its financial commitments, has become the subject of confrontation between the Democratic administration and the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives.

In a letter to Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy on Thursday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced the implementation of “exceptional measures” as the maximum debt ceiling was reached before it was changed. by Congress.

To discover

• Pension reform: calculate the age at which you will finally leave

These first measures concern the cessation of payments to several pension funds and health or disability benefits for public officials, technical adjustments “which are not immediately necessary for the payment of pensions”.

At the same time, "a period of suspension of debt issuance" has begun and will last until June 5, Yellen added.

These measures allow the US administration to see ahead but can only be temporary and, if Congress fails to reach an agreement, the United States could eventually find itself in a situation of default.

But the Secretary of the Treasury calls “respectfully on Congress to act quickly to protect the full guarantee of the United States” by raising the ceiling, currently located slightly above 31,000 billion dollars.

“Failure to meet government obligations would cause irreparable damage to the American economy and to the livelihoods of all Americans as well as to global finance,” insisted Janet Yellen in a letter dated 13 January.

The White House had stressed on Friday that, in normal times, elected Republicans and Democrats cooperate in the matter “and that is what is needed”, however excluding any negotiation on this subject.

A way to blame the Republicans for a possible failure because the latter have made no secret of their desire to use the issue of the ceiling as a bargaining chip to obtain blows on the financing plans voted during the first half of President Joe Biden's term.

The “sacrosanct” solvency.

But, even more, they want to impose their own economic program, which provides for new tax cuts and reductions in public spending, particularly in health programs such as Medicaid, health coverage enjoyed by Americans with modest resources.

“Imagine giving your child a credit card that regularly hits the cap, so you increase it and so on.

At some point do you continue like this or are you trying to change his behavior?” McCarthy described to the press.

On the Democratic side, Pennsylvania House Budget Committee member Brendan Boyle said on Friday it was "time for Republicans to stop pushing for default and start governing in the interests of Americans." .

“The Republicans are creating a crisis that has no reason to exist.

For the sake of our economy and American livelihoods, their political games must stop,” Boyle added.

JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon told CNBC on Friday that “the solvency of the US government should not be an issue.

It's sacrosanct, it must never happen.

If the increase, or the suspension, of the debt ceiling is a subject that comes up regularly, with already 79 developments since 1960, it can occasionally be a subject of political tension between the two parties.

In 2011, the opposition between the new Republican majority in Congress and the Democratic administration, under the presidency of Barack Obama, had been such that the rating agency Standard and Poor's had lowered the rating of the long-term debt of the States States, a first that shook the financial markets.

Rebelote in 2021, this time between the very thin Democratic majority in Congress and the Republican opposition who scrapped for several months before reaching an agreement.

Read alsoUSA: Philadelphia's manufacturing activity down in January, for the 5th consecutive month

Janet Yellen had announced in early August, in a letter to former House Democratic "speaker" Nancy Pelosi, the implementation of "extraordinary measures" to deal with the situation, which already concerned the financing of pension funds.

Congress had finally agreed on raising the ceiling in December, shortly after midnight on the same day that the Treasury would have been forced to take additional measures, with a more direct impact on the American economy.