The last time the issue came up, in August 2019, Congress and President Donald J. Trump suspended the debt limit until July 31 this year. On August 2, Treasury restored the debt limit to $ 28.4 trillion and the government crashed days later, less than seven months into President Biden’s term.
Second, an increase in the debt ceiling will almost certainly need at least the acquiescence of Senate Republicans to overcome an obstacle and move on to voting. McConnell would like Democrats to add an increase to the debt ceiling to the social policy bill, which is being drafted according to budget rules that would allow it to pass with 51 votes in the Senate.
But Democrats said weeks ago they would not. Given the difficulty of reaching an almost unanimous democratic agreement on the measure – and a number of procedural hurdles that should be removed – it is very likely that it will be impossible to reach the House and Senate in time to avoid non-payment.
Democrats say they helped Mr. Trump and Republican leaders deal with the debt limit, and that justice now dictates bipartisanship, especially on such a consistent issue. Therefore, the campaign of shame.
“If Senator McConnell and Senate Republicans choose not to pay the debts that helped take President Trump, it will devastate the economy and irreparably discredit the financial situation of our country, his party and themselves, ”Justin Goodman said. , Sen. Chuck Schumer’s spokesman. New York, the majority leader, said Wednesday. “Senator McConnell will fall as the first person in history to force a default and every American will know that Senate Republicans are to blame.”
McConnell is not the only target of Democrats; they say other Senate Republicans like Utah’s Mitt Romney, Maine’s Susan Collins and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski understand what’s at stake. Democratic leaders are likely to attribute an increase in the debt ceiling to an emergency spending bill that includes funding for Hurricane Ida reconstruction, forest fire management and the resettlement of Afghan refugees; then they will dare with Republican senators from Louisiana, Idaho and Montana and other lawmakers interested in voting no later than this month.
Biden’s 2022 budget
The fiscal year 2022 for the federal government begins on October 1 and President Biden has revealed what he would like to spend, since then. But any spending requires the approval of both houses of Congress. The following explains what the plan includes:
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- Ambitious total expenditure: President Biden would like the federal government to invest $ 6 trillion in fiscal year 2022 and total spending to increase to $ 8.2 trillion in 2031. This would bring the United States to its highest levels of federal spending since World War II, while operating deficits in excess of $ 1.3 trillion over the next decade.
- Infrastructure plan: The budget describes the first year of investment the president wants in his American Jobs Plan, which seeks to fund improvements to roads, bridges, public transportation and more, with a total of $ 2.3 trillion in eight years.
- Family plan: The budget also addresses the other major spending proposal Biden has already launched, its American Families Plan, aimed at strengthening the U.S. social security network by expanding access to education, reducing the cost of caring for children. children and supporting women in the workforce.
- Required programs: As usual, mandatory spending on programs such as Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare is an important part of the proposed budget. They are growing as the American population ages.
- Discretionary expenses: Funding for individual budgets of executive agencies and programs would reach about $ 1.5 trillion by 2022, 16% more than the previous budget.
- How would Biden pay: The president would largely fund his agenda by raising taxes on companies and high winners, which would begin to reduce budget deficits by the 2030s. Administration officials have said tax increases would fully offset the work plans and families over 15 years, which the budget request endorses. Meanwhile, the budget deficit would remain above $ 1.3 trillion each year.
Reputation aside, Mr. McConnell has lost before. In 2015, the Senate voted on its strong opposition to downsizing the federal government after September. 11 surveillance of U.S. telephone records. This year he pledged to oppose an organizational resolution by the Senate to give Democrats control of the chamber, unless the new majority promised to protect the legislative filibuster. Then he blinked.