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.”
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS