Kevin McCarthy is Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. © Patrick Semansky/AP
Another hurdle to avert the insolvency of the United States has been overcome: In the House of Representatives, a majority voted to suspend the debt ceiling for the time being. Now all that remains is for the Senate to approve.
Washington - The U.S. House of Representatives has approved the bill aimed at averting a last-minute default by the United States. A majority of members of Congress voted on Wednesday evening (local time) in favour of the bill, which would suspend the US debt ceiling until 2025, while at the same time significantly limiting planned government spending over the next two years.
To ensure that the U.S. government does not run out of money, the Senate must also approve the project after the House of Representatives and President Joe Biden must sign the bill. The time pressure is great: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had recently warned that the insolvency could occur on June 5 - i.e. as early as next Monday.
Biden's administration and the Republicans, who have a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, had struggled in recent weeks in long and difficult negotiations for a bipartisan compromise. Many politicians in both Biden's Democrats and Republicans are dissatisfied with the result, especially on the left and right fringes of the two parties. However, in the face of the imminent default of the US government, which could trigger a financial and economic crisis with global consequences, lawmakers from the middle of both parties rallied behind the deal, thus ensuring a necessary majority in the vote.
314 members voted in favor of the bill in the House of Representatives, including 149 Republicans and 165 Democrats. The leaders in the Senate have promised to bring the draft to a vote there as quickly as possible. Dpa
