By Le Figaro with AFP
Published update
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The US Congress must raise the debt ceiling, US central bank President Jerome Powell said on Tuesday, a very political subject but which, without an agreement, could plunge the United States into default as early as July. “Congress really needs to raise the debt ceiling“, declared the chairman of the Fed, questioned before a committee in the American Senate, stressing that”there was only one solution to this problem, and [que] it was congress».
It is a question, underlined Jerome Powell, ofthe only timely way out that allows us to pay all our bills“. In the absence of an agreement between Democrats and Republicans, the consequences are “difficult to estimate“, more “could be extremely negative and cause long-term damage“, he warned.
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Jerome Powell, however, indicated that “these were really issues that concerned the executive branch and Congress». «We don’t seek to play a role in these political issues“, he added. The debt of the United States reached, on January 19, 31.400 billion dollars, that is to say the ceiling beyond which the country can no longer issue new loans to finance itself and can therefore no longer honor its payments.
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A measure that requires the agreement of Congress
Temporary emergency measures have been taken to continue paying, but without an agreement in Congress to raise this ceiling, the United States will find itself in default, unable to meet its financial commitments. This could happen as early as July, according to the estimate published in mid-February by the Congressional Budget Service (CBO), a politically independent agency responsible for providing Congress with budgetary and economic analyses.
Raising the debt ceiling is a priori a technical measure, but which requires the agreement of Congress. It is a chestnut of American political life, the stake of a bitter battle between Democrats and Republicans, with often nocturnal negotiations as the deadline approaches.
Since 1960, the US debt ceiling has been raised 78 times, according to the Treasury Department. Republicans, now with a majority in the House of Representatives, oppose Democratic President Joe Biden, whom they accuse of spending recklessly.
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