No Progress in U.S. Debt Ceiling Debate
Posted on 05/09/2023
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy confirmed that neither side was budging in the battle to control the U.S. debt ceiling, with the nation’s debt standing at US$ 31.7 trillion and rising. After an hour-long meeting with President Biden, McCarthy said: “Everybody in this meeting reiterated positions they were at. I didn’t see any new movement. “McCarthy had criticized Biden earlier, sending out in a tweet: “The president has waited 97 DAYS without ever meeting. Every day I asked that we meet and he said no.”
As SWFI has reported, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and President Biden are in the hot seat legally and politically over any spending cuts, with the White House warning of a “catastrophe” if the ceiling is not raised.
Created by Congress in 1917, the debt limit, or ceiling, sets the maximum amount of outstanding federal debt the U.S. government can incur. The U.S. government has run a deficit averaging nearly US$ 1 trillion every year since 2001, meaning it spends that much more money than it receives in taxes and other revenue.
