Phu Yen Online - US: Debt ceiling raising agreement faces many obstacles in Congress

Several Republican lawmakers said on May 29 they would oppose a deal to raise the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, a sign that a bipartisan deal on the U.S. debt ceiling could hit a wall in Congress before the government runs out of money next week.

After weeks of negotiations, US President Joe Biden and House Speaker McCarthy reached a preliminary agreement on the public debt issue late on May 27. According to the agreement, the two sides agreed to suspend the debt ceiling for two years, until January 1, 2025; limit budget spending for fiscal years 2024 and 2025, accordingly, in fiscal year 2024, 886 billion USD will be allocated for the defense budget and 704 billion USD for non-defense items. Thus, non-defense spending in general will not change in fiscal year 2024. The two sides agreed to increase non-defense spending by 1% in fiscal year 2025. In addition, the two sides agreed to recover unused COVID-19 funds; speed up the licensing process for some energy projects and increase conditions for programs for the poor.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a potential Republican candidate in the 2024 US presidential election, said the deal was not enough to change the fiscal direction. Speaking to Fox News, he commented: “After this deal, the US will still be on the path to default.”

The deal will face its first test on May 30, when the House Rules Committee debates the bill, a necessary first step before a vote in the full House. A conservative member of the committee, Chip Roy, has said he will not support the bill.

In a post on his personal Twitter page, Mr. Chip Roy said that this was not a good deal, when the US had to take on about $ 4,000 billion more in public debt in exchange for a "freeze" of spending for two years and no significant policy reforms. Another member of this committee, Mr. Ralph Norman, also publicly opposed the above agreement. However, speaking to the press on May 29, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he was not concerned about the prospects for this bill in the above committee.

Referring to the content of the bill related to speeding up the permitting process for some energy projects, Congressman Raul Grijalva, a Democrat in the US House of Representatives, said that the changes related to environmental regulations in this bill are "very worrying and disappointing".

In the Senate, Republican Mike Lee also spoke out against the deal, which could signal a difficult vote in the Senate, where any senator could delay the process for days. Democrats control the Senate 51-49.

According to VNA/Tin Tuc Newspaper

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