The public debt ceiling
While the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, struggled to find a “other solution”, Democrats urged him to return to the negotiated deal. Some conservative elected officials, for their part, refuse en bloc any text that does not include significant budget cuts. The dispute mainly concerns the public debt ceiling. This must be formally raised or suspended by Congress. A suspension, voted in 2023, will expire at the beginning of January. A “vicious trap” put in place by the Democrats, according to Donald Trump, who is calling for a postponement of this deadline to January 2027. He fears that a capped debt will hamper his political agenda, while he is considering tax cuts and borrowing public will undoubtedly be necessary.
New threat of “shutdown” in the United States, just before the election
The new version of the text (116 pages, instead of 1,500 pages of the previous agreement), presented urgently by the Republicans, was largely rejected Thursday evening by 235 votes to 174 (including two Democrats). To be adopted, it would have had to obtain two thirds of the votes in favor. While the Republicans are in the majority in the lower house of Congress, thirty-eight of them opposed the new atrophied text and, above all, the postponement requested by Donald Trump. It's a setback for him a few hours after his cry of victory (“Success in Washington!”) on its Truth Social platform.
A temporary distrust
This “rebellion” questions the supposed influence of the President-elect over his party, without it being possible to know whether the revolt is one-off or a sign of deeper distrust. The episode also deals a blow to Mike Johnson in his role as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Some doubt that he will be re-elected when the new House is sworn in on January 3. The two twists and turns – the blocking at the last minute of the initial agreement then the rejection of the alternative by some of the Republican elected officials – revive the memory of the chaotic and impulsive first term of Donald Trump, with, as a bonus, the interference of “President Elon Musk”, according to the ironic expression of some Democrats.
American elected officials reach an agreement to avoid a “shutdown” before the presidential election
“Republicans are following the orders of their billionaire donors at the expense of hard-working Americans”criticized President Joe Biden's spokesperson, Karine Jean-Pierre. The leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, denounces a situation “unacceptable”. The Trumpists”extremes” don't have the willserious about helping working-class Americans“, he judges, accusing them of being “at the orders of their rich donors.
Temporary crisis or lasting blockage? We should be scheduled this Saturday morning.
