'Speaker McCarthy and I reached a budget agreement in principle' - Biden
US President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy have reached a tentative deal to raise the federal government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, ending a months-long stalemate, McCarthy announced on Saturday.
"Earlier this evening, Speaker McCarthy and I reached a budget agreement in principle," tweeted President Biden. "The agreement represents a compromise, which means not everyone gets what they want. That's the responsibility of governing," added Biden.
However, the deal was described in terms that indicated it may not be absolute, and without any celebration -- an indication of the bitter tenor of the negotiations, and the difficult path it has to pass through Congress before the United States runs out of money to pay its debts in early June.
The deal would raise the debt limit for two years while capping spending over that time, claw back unused Covid funds, speed up the permitting process for some energy projects and includes some extra work requirements for food aid programs for poor Americans.
Biden and McCarthy held a 90-minute phone call earlier on Saturday evening to discuss the deal.
The deal will avert an economically destabilizing default, so long as they succeed in passing it through the narrowly divided Congress before the Treasury Department runs short of money to cover all its obligations, which it warned Friday (May 26) will occur if the debt ceiling is not raised by June 5.
Reuters
