Biden and GOP closer to agreement on debt crisis
House Speaker Kevin Mccarthy said on Saturday that Republican negotiators were “closer to an agreement” that would resolve the looming debt crisis, but had not reached a deal with President Joe Biden.
He said there was no firm timeline for a final compromisethatwouldraisethenation’sborrowing limit and avoid a catastrophic default while also making spending cuts that House Republicans are demanding. House negotiators let the Capitol ater 2 am and returned hours later.
“We’ll get it when it gets right,” Mccarthy, said as he arrived on Capitol Hill.
Mccarthy’s comments echoed the latest assessment from Biden, who said on Friday evening that bargainers were “very close.”
Their optimism came as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress that the United States could default on its debt obligations by June 5 - four days later than previously estimated - if lawmakers do not act in time to raise the federal debt ceiling.
The extended “X-date” gives the two sides a bit of extra time as they scramble for a deal.
Both sides have suggested one of the main holdups is a GOP effort to expand existing work requirements for recipients of food stamps and other federal aid programmes, a longtime Republican goal that Democrats have strenuously opposed. The White House said the Republican proposals were “cruel and senseless.”
Mccarthy declined to elaborate on those discussions. One of his negotiators, Louisiana’s Garret Graves, said there was “not a chance” that Republicans might relent on the issue.
Biden, however, was upbeat as he departed for Camp David on Friday evening, saying: “It’s very close, and I’m optimistic.”
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had told Congress on Friday that the US could default on its debt obligations by June 5 – four days later than previously estimated – if lawmakers do not act in time to raise the federal debt ceiling.
Yellen’s leter comes as Congress breaks for the three-day Memorial Day weekend, and as tensions build over whether a deal between the White House and Republicans in Congress will be struck in time.
The so-called “X-date” arrives when the government no longer has enough of a financial cushion to pay all of its bills, having exhausted the extraordinary measures it has been employing since January to stretch existing funds.
Americans and the world were uneasily watching the negotiating brinkmanship that could throw the US economy into chaos and sap world confidence in the nation’s leadership,
Failure to lit the borrowing limit, now $31 trillion, to pay the nation’s incurred bills, would send shockwaves through the US and global economy. Yellen said failure to act by the new date would “cause severe hardship to American families, harm our global leadership position and raise questions about our ability to defend our national security interests.”
Anxious retirees and others were already making contingency plans for missed checks, with the next Social Security payments due next week.
Biden and Mccarthy have seemed to be narrowing on a two-year budget-cuting deal that would also extend the debt limit into 2025 past the next presidential election.
The contours of the deal have been taking shape to cut spending for 2024 and impose a 1% cap on spending growth for 2025.
The Republican proposal on work requirements would save $11 billion over 10 years by raising the maximum age for existing standards that require” able-bodied adults who do not live with dependents to work or atend training programmes. Current law applies those standards to recipients under the age of 50. The GOP plan would raise the age to include adults 55 and under. It would lower the number of exemptions that states can grant to some recipients subject to those requirements.
Biden has said the work requirements for Medicaid would be a nonstarter.
He initially seemed potentially open to negotiating minor changes on food stamps, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, but his position has appeared to harden.
Any deal would need to be a political compromise in a divided Congress. Many of the hard-right Trump-aligned Republicans in Congress have long been skeptical of the Treasury’s projections, and they are pressing Mccarthy to hold out.
Republican negotiators closer to an accord but no deal yet with Biden: Mccarthy; Yellen says the US could default on its debt obligations by June 5 – four days later than previously estimated – if lawmakers do not act on time.
Western oil companies are facing increasing pressure from investors as well as climate activists to set stringent targets in reducing fossil fuel production. The argument is that fossil fuels have to be phased out if climate change goals like reducing carbon emissions is to be met. Dutch oil major Shell at its shareholder meeting in London and the French oil major, Total Energies, at its shareholder meeting in Paris were surrounded by climate change protestors. And inside the shareholder meetings, there was investor pressure to cut down the share of fossil fuels. Shell and Total Energies have said they are commited to cut down fossil fuel production and increase investment in renewable energy sources. The companies feel that it would be difficult to shoot down fossil fuel operations completely. In the Shell shareholder meeting, Follow This, an activist group, moved resolution for more ambitious cuts in greenhouse gas emission, and it won the support of a fith of the shareholders. A similar resolution was moved last year, and the support too was the same. It shows that the sentiment is growing among the shareholders as well as climate protestors that there is a need to move away from fossil fuels. A Dutch court also ruled that Shell should ramp up its targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but Shell has appealed against the ruling.
This is easier said than done. Shell’s chief executive Wael Sawan said ater the meeting, “The silent majority is very clear with us as to their expectations…(to) find a balanced transition.” It means that of seting up realistic goals of achieving net zero carbon emissions, moving to cleaner energy sources and phasing down fossil fuels. This is seen as a delaying tactic of the oil majors by the climate activists. Follow This has moved a more stringent resolution at the Total Energies shareholders’ meeting with the support of 17 other institutional investors with 1.1 trillion euros investments. The resolution proposes that Total Energies reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. But the board is opposing it while the company is focused on “intensity targets” which implies increasing renewable energy assets. The resolution also demands that that there should be reduction in emissions by the endusers of Total Energies product, that is Total Energies supplies being used up in cars and planes and contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. The deadline is 2030. The French oil major is commited to reducing emissions at its own production facilities.
There is an acceptance that fossil fuels need to be phased as part of the strategy to reduce carbon emissions. But the debate is about the pace of the reduction plan. The climate activists demand that the reduction goals should be accomplished faster than planned by the oil companies. Total Energies has its own internal climate plan which includes modest carbon emission targets. Many people, including scientists, seem to feel that the change has to achieved on a war footing and that there is no time for gradual transition. But the realists among the oil companies as well as oil producing countries are of the view that fossil fuels cannot be wished away with a magic wand, and that there are no feasible alternatives to keep the global economy running. The realistic solution seems to be to reduce the share of fossil fuels and increase that of the clean energy. The batle between the two groups will continue. The effects of climate change through depletion of natural resources, extreme weather events like floods and heat waves all over the world, which affect man and beast, are too evident to be ignored. This does not however mean that climate change can be rolled back by drastic decisions like doing away with fossil fuels instantaneously.