The reviews are starting to come in as details emerge about the debt ceiling agreement reached by US President Joe Biden and US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Even before seeing those details, some lawmakers were criticizing the deal as not doing enough to tackle the nation’s debt, while others worried it is too austere and would harm many low-income Americans.
The legislation would probably need support from a significant number of lawmakers from both parties to clear the closely divided House and gain the 60 votes necessary to advance in the US Senate.
Photo: AFP
Many lawmakers said they were withholding judgement until they see the final details, many of which did not come out until Sunday evening. That is when the 99-page bill that resulted from the Biden-McCarthy negotiations was made public.
Some of the earliest objections are coming from the most conservative members of the US Congress, particularly members of the hardline House Freedom Caucus that often clashes with Republican leadership.
“I think it’s a disaster!” Republican US Representative Matt Rosendale wrote on Twitter.
“Fake conservatives agree to fake spending cuts,” Republican US Senator Rand Paul wrote.
“This ‘deal’ is insanity,” Republican US Representative Ralph Norman posted. “A $4T debt ceiling increase with virtually no cuts is not what we agreed to. Not gonna vote to bankrupt our country. The American people deserve better.”
Republican leaders knew all along that they would lose some members’ support in any compromise with a Democratic-led White House and Senate. The question has always been whether the deal would pick up enough Democratic support to offset those defections.
As much as some Democrats dislike what is roughly a spending freeze on non-defense programs next year and chafe at work requirements being extended to more food stamp recipients, initial reaction has been circumspect as they await more details.
US Representative Annie Kuster and chair of a group known as the New Dems, which has roughly 100 members, said the group is “confident” that White House negotiators delivered a “viable, bipartisan solution to end this crisis.”
Democratic US Senator Chris Coons said he believed it was the best deal that could be reached given the demands coming from House Republicans.
“To my colleagues who have serious misgivings about this deal, I say this is far better than defaulting,” Coons said.
The likeliest opposition would come from the more liberal members of the caucus. Democratic US Representative Pramila Jayapal has been voicing opposition to additional work requirements for some of those getting food and cash assistance.
She called it “terrible policy” on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday.
The Business Roundtable, a group of more than 200 chief executive officers, called on Congress to pass the bill as soon as possible.
“In addition to raising the debt ceiling, this agreement takes steps toward putting the US on a more sustainable fiscal trajectory,” group CEO Joshua Bolten said. “This deal also makes a down payment on permitting reform, helping to clear the path for new energy infrastructure projects.”
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
RSS