President Joe Biden Stands Firm on Debt Ceiling Increase, Rejects Drastic Spending Cuts: Tug-of-War Continues with Republicans in Congress

President Joe Biden maintains the demand that the ceiling for the US national debt must be increased, but he will not accept the Republicans’ demands for drastic cuts in spending.

The tug-of-war over the debt issue dragged on in earnest on Wednesday, just weeks before the ceiling is reached. Then the US could face the dramatic situation of defaulting on loans.

– I would like to meet the Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, but not to talk about whether the debt ceiling should be increased. It is not subject to negotiations, Biden maintained on Wednesday afternoon local time.

But there may still be negotiations. Later that day, the House of Representatives adopted a proposal to increase the country’s debt ceiling by 1.5 trillion dollars – but only in combination with spending cuts.

Narrow majority

Republicans worked hard to bring together all factions within the party before the vote. The Republican majority in the House of Representatives is narrow, and the proposal was adopted with a majority of 217 to 215 votes.

The fight over the debt ceiling is becoming a trench war between the Republicans and the White House. It is also a personal test for McCarthy, who took over the leadership of the House of Representatives in January with a promise to drastically cut public spending, a concession to the far-right wing of the party.

The US national debt is a staggering 32 trillion dollars (32 plus 12 zeros), a number that has grown under various presidents for decades.

Biden is not backing down

Biden will not accept drastic social cuts and will not go back on promises of loan forgiveness for students and measures to create a greener business world.

The 320-page draft of cuts from the Republicans will increase the debt ceiling until March 2024, so that a new debt dispute will come in the middle of the presidential election campaign. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the Republican proposal involves cuts of $4.8 trillion (4.8 plus 12 zeros) over a ten-year period.

Independent analysts believe that the cuts will cause growth to weaken by 0.6 percentage points in 2024 and that 780,000 jobs will be lost.