Aviva Fried (in the United States) / Photo credit: JIM WATSON / POOL / AFP
During his address to Americans, President Joe Biden elaborated on the deal he is expected to sign on the budget. An agreement, between Democrats and Republicans, which allows at the very last minute to raise the American debt ceiling and thus avoid a payment default which could have occurred on Monday.
It was a Joe Biden apparently very pleased with himself who addressed the Americans this Friday evening. To underline the solemnity of the moment, he spoke for the first time from the Oval Office. Thanks to the debt ceiling agreement, the crisis was averted, he said. And to hear it, the United States has not gone far from disaster.
“If we had failed to agree on the budget, our economy would have gone into recession. 8 million Americans would have lost their jobs and the reputation of America, America’s strongest and most reliable, would have been destroyed,” he said.
Concessions that go wrong
Joe Biden praised the bipartisan aspect of this decision. But on closer inspection, the president may be the only one happy with the outcome. Many Republicans feel like they’ve been cheated by not getting a massive spending cut. The most progressive democrats are furious to see the concessions that have been made, such as the obligation to work to obtain food aid.
Of course, they all have their sights set on next year’s elections. Joe Biden did not fail to recall all that his administration had already accomplished in a speech that looked very much like a campaign speech.