In American football, we call it a “punt”: a long clearance at the foot to ward off danger. Thursday evening, after a soap opera that lasted all summer, the US Senate validated a patch raising the debt ceiling until December 3 of 480 billion dollars which will still have to be adopted in the House. And if default – which could cause a serious economic crisis – is therefore avoided, it is in a way a return to square one: the Democrats have two months to find a compromise or to force their way without the help of the Republicans. .
Thursday evening, the Senate initially voted by a very small margin (61 votes against 38) to authorize a vote on the debt by simple majority, instead of the three-fifths usually necessary to avoid parliamentary obstruction (“fillibuster” ). Then, in the wake, the raising of the debt ceiling was voted by the Democrats alone, by 50 votes to 48 (two Republican senators were absent).
” Sigh of relief “
Dec. 3 “is a short timeframe” and “uncertainty remains in the longer term,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told CNN. “Everyone, including me, sighed with relief” with this agreement, she admitted, however.
In fact, the agreement reached on Thursday only postpones a parliamentary battle that promises to be epic until the end of November. The boss of the Republicans, Mitch McConnell, urged the Democrats to reach – alone – a lasting solution by December thanks to the process of “reconciliation”, a kind of complex parliamentary shuttle which makes it possible to pass a text to the majority simple in the Senate.
In addition to the debt limit, Congress will also have to agree by early December on a new budget if it wants to avoid the paralysis of federal services, nicknamed “shutdown”, as well as two massive spending envelopes desired by Joe Biden, for a total of nearly $ 5,000 billion. Democrats can therefore breathe, but the respite will only be short-lived.
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