Kevin McCarthy and Joe Biden at the White House, May 22, 2023 (AFP / SAUL LOEB)
A risk of bankruptcy … and parliamentary holidays: a week before a possible default in payment by the United States, the elected representatives of Congress returned to their constituencies on Thursday, for lack of an agreement with President Biden on the raising of the debt ceiling.
Despite days and nights of discussions, the Democratic leader’s teams and the Republican camp’s negotiators have not yet found a budget compromise.
From June 1, the United States could therefore find itself in default of payment, that is to say unable to honor its financial commitments, whether in terms of salaries, pensions, or reimbursements to their creditors.
– Budget cuts –
Like almost all major economies, the United States lives on credit. But it is an American peculiarity, it is the prerogative of Congress to vote to raise the maximum amount of public debt that the world’s largest economy is authorized to accumulate, currently set at some 31,000 billion dollars.
The Republicans refuse this time to raise this famous “ceiling” without conditions, demanding drastic budget cuts before giving the green light. The Democrats refuse. And each camp accuses the other of being responsible for this situation.
Main Republican protagonist in this file, Kevin McCarthy, uses and abuses an allegory comparing the Democrats to that of a child blithely exceeding the limit of his credit card. “After a while, do you continue like this or are you trying to change his behavior?” he regularly asks the press.
The American president had initially simply ruled out discussing under the threat of bankruptcy.
He finally made several proposals to his Republican opponent Kevin McCarthy, head of the House of Representatives, to reduce the federal state bill, but that was not enough.
– “Made from scratch” –
A singular atmosphere reigns in Washington: a few days from a potentially catastrophic default, most observers seem confident, certain that an agreement will be found.
In the absence of a major breakthrough in the negotiations, the elected representatives of Congress have thus left the American capital as the long holiday weekend of “Memorial Day” approaches.
The boss of the House of Representatives, however, demanded that they be prepared to return to Washington urgently if an agreement were to be reached in their absence.
It is in fact very common for last-minute compromises to be reached on this type of file.
This did not prevent the economic world from showing its first signs of trembling. The rating agency Fitch issued a warning Wednesday placing the AAA rating of the United States “under surveillance”.
The US Treasury on Thursday denounced a “fabricated crisis”, castigating the refusal of conservatives in Congress to vote to raise the debt ceiling, an essential maneuver to avoid bankruptcy.
This unprecedented situation would have potentially catastrophic consequences for the American and global economy.
For the first time, holders of US Treasury bonds, the king of global finance, could no longer recover their investment.
© 2023 AFP
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