Kevin McCarthy, speaker of the House of Representatives, announces the agreement in the US debt dispute.
Image: dpa
Both Democrats and Republicans have made concessions in order to settle the debt dispute. That deserves praise. The dispute is likely to have damaged trust in American democracy.
Nafter President Joe Biden and the leading Republican in Congress, Kevin McCarthy, have agreed on a compromise in the dispute over the debt limit, they now have to organize majorities in both houses of Congress in the next few days. It won’t be easy: there is already a lot of resistance in both parties.
The agreement lacks the drastic aspects that can be sold well within the company’s own ranks. It does not provide for the large spending cuts that Republicans have been calling for. The tax increases advocated by the Democrats also failed. From the outset, the negotiators left about two-thirds of the spending blocks untouched, the statutory mandatory transfers for retirees and veterans, statutory health care and spending on the military. The remaining issue block was slightly trimmed. This must not be greater next year than this year and only grow by one percent in the following year. There was agreement that a large part of the unused but approved funds for fighting the pandemic would be saved.