Biden on the US debt dispute: “Everything is going according to plan”

Shortly before the eagerly awaited vote in the US Congress on the debt ceiling, President Joe Biden showed himself confident that he would be able to pass the law, which has been controversial for months. Everything is going according to plan, Biden said in Washington today.

Late tonight (local time), the House of Representatives was scheduled to vote on a hard-won compromise to raise the current $31.4 trillion ceiling.

impending insolvency

If the bill is approved, it will go to the Senate in the coming days, when voting may continue into the weekend. The vote is eagerly awaited in the financial markets: if it fails, the United States is threatened with bankruptcy.

Republicans had pushed through spending cuts during negotiations, which Democrats have successfully defended central parts of Biden’s important policy projects. In light of bipartisan resistance and the lack of factional pressure in the United States, House approval was initially uncertain.

And in a procedural vote in one of the chamber’s committees yesterday, the seven-to-six majority was very narrow. Today, prominent figures from both parties campaigned for compromise, including Republican Sen. Mitt Romney. “When I was eight years old, I didn’t get all the Christmas presents I was hoping for,” he said. “But I got more than I expected.”