Washington – Just two days before the deadline, President Joe Biden signed legislation on Saturday that raises the nation’s debt ceiling, avoiding an unprecedented default on federal government debt.
The White House announced the signing, done privately at the White House, in an emailed statement in which Biden thanked congressional leaders for their cooperation.
The Treasury Department had warned that the country would begin to run out of liquidity to pay all its debts on Monday, which would have sent a shock to the US and global economy.
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Republicans refused to raise the country’s debt limit unless Democrats agreed to cut spending, leading to a deadlock that was not resolved until weeks of intense negotiations between the White House and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. , Republican Kevin McCarthy.
The final agreement, approved by the House of Representatives on Wednesday and by the Senate on Thursday, suspends the debt limit until 2025 – after the next presidential elections – and restricts public spending. In addition, it sets budget targets for the next two years, hoping to ensure fiscal stability at a time when the political season is heating up.
Raising the nation’s debt limit, currently at $31.4 trillion, will ensure that the government can borrow to pay off debts already incurred.
“Approving this budget agreement has been fundamental. What was at stake could not have been of greater importance,” Biden said yesterday, in a message from the White House, after the measure was approved Thursday night in the Senate.
“Nobody got everything they wanted, but the American people got what they needed. We avoided an economic crisis and an economic collapse. We are cutting spending and reducing deficits. And we protected important priorities from Social Security to Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans, and our transformational investments in clean energy and infrastructure,” Biden said in his televised address.
Tune in as I deliver remarks on the passage of the bipartisan budget agreement. https://t.co/NAnAAvVmtG
—President Biden (@POTUS) June 2, 2023
The legislation imposes moderate cuts to the fiscal year 2024 budget, tightens work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) and Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) programs, and rescinds $27.1 billion in uncommitted funds to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19.
Under the bill, the 2025 budget will only be able to increase by 1%, which must be below potential inflation and has primarily made conservative Republicans uncomfortable over Defense appropriations.
The legislation would gradually raise, by 2025, to 54 the maximum age for requiring SNAP recipients to perform work hours. Currently, the law’s work requirement applies to people able to work without dependent minors who are between the ages of 18 and 49.
With respect to the Program of Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the legislation makes the requirement to state governments more rigorous so that at least 50% of the beneficiaries of the program work.
The legislation also rescinds some $1.4 billion that the federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS) would have earmarked for hiring auditors.
In addition, it amends the Environmental Public Policy Act (NEPA) to simplify the process and establish that permit applications for non-complex energy projects must be decided within one year and no later than two for large projects.
With information from AP.
