Talks to avoid a US debt default were on a knife edge yesterday as US President Joe Biden said he would not accept “extreme” Republican demands, but said he remained optimistic.
“I still believe we’ll be able to avoid a default and we’ll get something decent done,” he told reporters at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan.
With the US Department of the Treasury warning that the US government could run out of money as early as June 1 — triggering massive economic disruption in the world’s biggest economy and likely around the globe — the political battle in Washington has seesawed without any clear sign of resolution.
Photo: AFP
Republicans, who control the US House of Representatives, are demanding steep budget cuts as a price for allowing an extension of the government’s borrowing authority.
The White House is seeking to whittle down Republican demands, while saying that the traditionally uncontroversial annual debt ceiling increase is being weaponized for political gain.
Hopes for a settlement on Friday took a blow when Republicans walked out of negotiations, declaring a “pause.”
However, the talks restarted hours later, leading White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to say that “we are indeed optimistic.”
Biden, on the other side of the world for the gathering of rich democracies, was briefed on the situation early yesterday, which was still Friday night in Washington, the White House said.
White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt said that “Republicans are taking the economy hostage and pushing us to the brink of default, which could cost millions of jobs and tip the country into recession after two years of steady job and wage growth.”
While Biden would not accept “extreme” Republican policies, “there remains a path forward to arrive at a reasonable bipartisan agreement if Republicans come back to the table to negotiate in good faith,” LaBolt said.
More borrowing is required by the US government just to meet expenditures already made, meaning that refusal by the Republicans to lift the debt ceiling would leave Washington unable to pay its bills, triggering an array of economic shock waves.
Republicans say that the more than US$31 trillion in US national debt is too high to accept and that there should be agreement on getting the books more balanced, rather than simply authorizing a still-higher debt allowance.
Democrats say that they are willing to discuss the budget, but that first the debt ceiling needs to be raised without condition so that the existing bills can be paid and US financial credibility preserved.
Briefly calling off the talks on Friday, US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy said that “we’ve got to pause,” because “we can’t be spending any more money next year.”
Biden’s team says the raft of spending cuts being demanded by Republicans are fueled by the agenda of the party’s increasingly dominant hard-right wing.
Speaking to reporters, Biden expressed a willingness to be patient.
“It’s a negotiation. It goes in stages,” he said.
Asked if he was worried, he said: “Not at all.”
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
DEFENSE UPHEAVAL: Trump was also to remove the first woman to lead a military service, as well as the judge advocates general for the army, navy and air force US President Donald Trump on Friday fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, and pushed out five other admirals and generals in an unprecedented shake-up of US military leadership. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that he would nominate former lieutenant general Dan “Razin” Caine to succeed Brown, breaking with tradition by pulling someone out of retirement for the first time to become the top military officer. The president would also replace the head of the US Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service,
Four decades after they were forced apart, US-raised Adamary Garcia and her birth mother on Saturday fell into each other’s arms at the airport in Santiago, Chile. Without speaking, they embraced tearfully: A rare reunification for one the thousands of Chileans taken from their mothers as babies and given up for adoption abroad. “The worst is over,” Edita Bizama, 64, said as she beheld her daughter for the first time since her birth 41 years ago. Garcia had flown to Santiago with four other women born in Chile and adopted in the US. Reports have estimated there were 20,000 such cases from 1950 to
CONFIDENT ON DEAL: ‘Ukraine wants a seat at the table, but wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since an election, the US president said US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and added that he was more confident of a deal to end the war after US-Russia talks. Trump increased pressure on Zelenskiy to hold elections and chided him for complaining about being frozen out of talks in Saudi Arabia. The US president also suggested that he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month as Washington overhauls its stance toward Russia. “I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when asked about the Ukrainian
RSS