To prevent a historic first-ever US default, President Joe Biden on Saturday signed a bill suspending the nation’s debt limit until January 1, 2025.
The risk of default is removed until after the 2020 presidential election if the debt ceiling is extended into early 2025. In addition to addressing the debt ceiling, the measure imposes a limit on nondefense spending, increases the number of people who must work to qualify for food stamps, and reverses the distribution of some Covid-19 relief monies.
After days and nights of tense negotiations that at times appeared like they could break down and fall apart totally, the White House and House Republicans reached a bipartisan agreement to address the debt ceiling.
Before June 5, the Treasury Department had warned it would no longer be able to pay all of the nation’s bills in full and on time, a situation that might have caused global economic calamity, so lawmakers raced the clock to get the bill over the finish line.
There was very little wiggle space in the schedule for getting the bill through Congress, which put immense pressure on the leadership of both parties. The bill was approved by the House on Wednesday and by the Senate on Thursday.
Once the agreement was reached, it was met with opposition from the extreme left and the far right, but it eventually garnered the backing of many moderate MPs on both sides of the aisle.
