WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy have reached a tentative deal to raise the federal government's US$31.4 trillion debt ceiling, ending a months-long stalem
Republicans who control the House of Representatives have pushed for steep cuts to spending and other conditions, including new work requirements on some benefit programs for low-income Americans and for funds to be stripped from the Internal Revenue Service, the US tax agency.
The two sides have to carefully thread the needle in finding a compromise that can clear the House, with a 222-213 Republican majority, and Senate, with a 51-49 Democratic majority. Democrats accused Republicans of playing a dangerous game of brinksmanship with the economy. Republicans say recent increased government spending is fueling the growth of the US debt, which is now roughly equal to the annual output of the economy.
This time around, House Speaker McCarthy had strengthened his hand by overseeing passage of an April Bill that paired US$4.8 trillion in spending cuts with a US$1.5 trillion debt-ceiling hike. The Bill had no chance of passing the Democrat-controlled Senate, but showed that McCarthy had the ability to hold together his thin majority just four months into his top leadership role.
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