House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has announced that a tentative deal has been reached between House Republicans and the White House to address the nation’s debt ceiling. According to McCarthy, negotiators have worked through the night to finalize the details of the agreement, keeping the bill around 150 pages to make it easier for members of Congress and the public to understand. McCarthy has said that the deal will be “transformational” for the American public. President Joe Biden and McCarthy are scheduled to speak at 2 p.m. ET Sunday to ensure both sides agree on the bill’s language.
The deal needs to pass through Congress and receive Biden’s signature in order to avoid a catastrophic default on U.S. sovereign debt. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that failing to raise the debt ceiling by early June could result in “economic chaos.”
Expectations for Approval
McCarthy has said that he thinks Republicans will support the bill, and assuming Biden grants his approval, he expects Democrats will be supportive as well. McCarthy has also praised Biden and his staff for their conduct during the tense negotiations, saying that he thought “his team was very professional, very smart, very tough at the same time.”
In a letter on Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer invited Democratic senators to join a briefing call with Biden’s negotiating team to go over the details of the agreement at 6:30 p.m. ET. He told the senators to be prepared for possible Friday or weekend votes next week ahead of the Treasury’s looming June deadline.
However, some House Republicans, like Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, have been vocal critics of the deal on social media. Roy wrote in a tweet Sunday that he is “going to try” to stop the bill from passing in the House.
Encouragement to Read the Bill
McCarthy has encouraged members of Congress to read the bill when it’s released before taking a stance. He said, “let’s let the members actually read the bill before they make a decision to go forward.”
The tentative deal on the US debt ceiling has been reached after intense negotiations between House Republicans and the White House. The bill needs to pass through Congress and receive Biden’s signature to avoid a catastrophic default on US sovereign debt. While some House Republicans have been critical of the deal, McCarthy is optimistic that both Republicans and Democrats will support the bill. It remains to be seen how the bill will be received once it is released, but McCarthy has encouraged members of Congress to read it before taking a stance.
Leave a Reply