U.S. President Joe Biden addresses the nation on averting default and the Bipartisan Budget Agreement, within the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., June 2, 2023.
Pool | Via Reuters
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday evening gave his first address from the Oval Office to debate a bill to lift the debt ceiling while capping federal spending, calling it a “critical” agreement. He plans to sign the bill Saturday.
“Nobody got every little thing they wanted however the American people got what they needed. We averted an economic crisis and an economic collapse,” Biden said.
The compromise debt ceiling bill passed the Senate by a 63-36 margin Thursday evening, winning enough support from each parties to beat the chamber’s 60-vote threshold to avoid a filibuster. On Wednesday, it moved through the House after about 72 hours, passing 314-117.
The agreement comes with little time to spare: The Treasury Department estimated the federal government would run out of cash on June 5 had the debt ceiling not been lifted.
“This is important,” Biden said. “Essential to all of the progress we have made in the previous few years is keeping the complete faith and credit of the USA and passing a budget that continues to grow our economy and reflects our values as a nation.”
Without the agreement, federal obligations akin to Social Security, Medicare and military paychecks would have gone unsent. And failure to lift the debt ceiling would have roiled global financial markets and sparked job losses within the U.S.
The bill comes after weeks of intense negotiations between Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the White House. The ultimate deal handed conservatives several ideological policy victories in exchange for his or her votes to lift the debt ceiling beyond next yr’s presidential election and into 2025.
