After the positive signs of recent days, the US debt ceiling negotiations appear to have reached a new impasse. Republican Representative Garret Graves, who is negotiating on behalf of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, left a meeting shortly after it started Friday morning. “They’re just being unreasonable,” he said of his Democratic interlocutors. He called the negotiations “unproductive”.
No more chore
Without a political deal, the US would run out of money around June 1st. So the country has borrowed the maximum amount allowed by Congress, after which that institution has to raise the bar again. This is usually a chore in the United States, but tensions between Republicans and Democrats are making it increasingly difficult.
McCarty was optimistic
Earlier in the week, McCarthy said he was “imagining a path to a deal.” “We haven’t gotten there yet and we haven’t agreed on anything yet,” the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives said at the time, “but we have the structure in mind and now everyone is working.” He also hinted that a vote on the hike could take place early next week.
If the debt ceiling is not raised, the consequences would be enormous. Much of the US government will shut down and the country will be unable to meet its debt payments. According to Vice President Kamala Harris, the US economy will fall into a recession if no agreement is reached.