Impasse persists after Biden holds tense meeting on debt ceiling

Washington, May 20 (Prensa Latina) Today, 10 days before the United States runs out of money to honor its commitments as estimated by the Treasury Department, negotiations to raise the federal debt ceiling are at a standstill.

May 20, 2023
08:05

This is clear both from the statements of Republican Garret Graves who said that Joe Biden’s administration was making “unreasonable” requests, and those of the White House, after a closed-door meeting held Friday.

“It’s time to pause because it’s just not productive. Until people are willing to have reasonable talks about how you can actually move forward and do the right thing, we’re not going to sit here and talk to ourselves,” Graves said.

“There’s no question we have serious differences,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated.

If debt ceiling is not raised from its current $31.4 trillion limit, the United States could suspend Social Security payments and wages of federal employees, in addition to the havoc it would wreak on global economy, impacting on prices and mortgage rates in other nations.

GOP Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina confessed to the Wall Street Journal that negotiations were at “a stalemate.”

“We’re in a very bad spot,” he sentenced.

Both President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy are under pressure from their respective sides not to give in to the opposing caucus.

Dozens of House progressives, for example, sent a letter on Friday to Joe Biden assuring they will not vote for a “bad deal” on the debt ceiling, urging president to invoke the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

The letter was signed by 66 House Democrats led by Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal and Representatives Ilhan Omar and Greg Casar who asked not to agree to Republican attempts to “cut essential federal programs that aid millions of Americans.”

Section 4 of the 14th Amendment the congressmen allude to sets forth: “the validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for the payment of pensions and bonuses for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.”

The Chamber of Commerce also warned President Biden of the potentially disastrous economic effects of invoking such a postulate to prevent the country from defaulting on its debts.

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