Debt: Joe Biden ‘can’t guarantee’ US won’t default

The US president is putting pressure on the Republican opposition to get Congress to vote to increase the US debt ceiling.

Joe Biden said Monday that he could “not guarantee” that the United States would not default on October 18, the deadline for Congress to increase the country’s debt capacity.

“I cannot believe” that such a scenario will occur, said the American president, adding however: “Can I guarantee it? I cannot guarantee it”.

“Don’t get in the way”

US President Joe Biden sharply attacked the Republican opposition on Monday, accusing it of playing a “dangerous” game in Congress as the United States is threatened with default.

“Don’t get in the way,” he said in a speech at the White House, denouncing the ‘irresponsibility’ of Republicans as Democrats are busy voting on legislation increasing the capacity of debt of the country, before the deadline of October 18.

The Democratic Party has a majority too thin to be able, with its own votes, “to raise the debt ceiling”, a legislative maneuver that Republican parliamentarians are determined to prevent.

Lawmakers have already raised or suspended this “debt ceiling” 78 times since 1960.

This is the maximum legal limit granted by Congress for borrowing. Currently set at a little above 28 trillion dollars, the Treasury estimates that it will be reached on October 18.

The government would then have to stop living on credit overnight and cut spending. It would throw a country that has run deficits for decades, like many advanced economies, into recession.

A default by the United States would also have unpredictable consequences for international finance and the economy, dominated by the dollar and irrigated by US Treasuries.