Risk of default in the US – Biden will not negotiate with the opposition

The American president Joe Biden He “will not negotiate” with the Republican opposition to secure their consent to a legislative maneuver to avoid a US default, his spokesman warned on Wednesday.

“There will be no negotiations on the debt limit. We’re not going to do that,” US presidential spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre insisted during the accredited editors’ briefing, as the US fiscal situation could become critical very quickly.

He estimated that it is the “constitutional responsibility” of Congress to act, above party expediencies and “unconditionally”. The issue cannot be “used for political manoeuvres”, Ms Jean-Pierre added.

The US Congress, by virtue of a rule that has no parallel in any other developed economy, is called upon to vote frequently to increase the limit on the public borrowing of the world’s largest economic power.

Without it, the U.S. could be forced into default, in other words stop meeting its schedule of debt and interest payments to some creditors, which would send the U.S. and global economy into uncharted territory.

The Minister of Finance of USA Janet Yellen has warned that if a political agreement is not reached, her agencies will begin as early as today to implement “emergency” measures to temporarily avoid the nightmare scenario.

Republicans, who now control the House of Representatives — the Senate remains in the hands of Democrats — are threatening to play for time to force the president to back down on some categories of spending, as reported by Agence France-Presse and relayed by the Athens News Agency .

The current borrowing limit, which amounts to 31.38 trillion. dollars, was set by Congress in December 2021 after tense negotiations.

Members of Congress have raised or suspended this limit 78 times since 1960, most without much difficulty.