U.S. Provisional Budget and Debt Limit Increases, Simultaneous Senate Handling virtually canceled

[아시아경제 뉴욕=백종민 특파원] The U.S. Senate’s decision to increase the debt ceiling and to deal with the interim budget has virtually failed. The Democratic Party is expected to operate ‘Plan B’ to avoid the federal government shutdown (shutdown) and unprecedented national bankruptcy (default).

According to the Wall Street Journal, the US Senate on the 27th (local time) did not pass the procedural vote on the debt ceiling increase and the provisional budget proposal by a 48 to 50 vote.

Republicans united and effectively overturned the bill passed by the Democrat-led House. The Democrats did not secure 60 seats to process the budget without a legitimate Republican statement. This is, of course, an expected result. This is because the Democrats and Republicans divided the Senate by 50 seats each, and even within the Democrats, opposition votes came out.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said before the vote, “We’re here because Republicans are trying to block the federal government’s payments.”

The US media is analyzing that the crisis of the budget cliff, which is approaching at midnight on the 1st, has gotten worse.

The Democratic Party is known to have decided to deal with the provisional budget by separating the provisional budget and the debt ceiling increase plan.

Politico reported that Democrats are of the opinion that the federal government shutdown should be prevented, even if the debt ceiling is not raised. Republicans are also agreeing to separate the provisional budget and debt ceiling increases.

The US national bankruptcy due to the failure to increase the debt ceiling is expected to be around the middle of next month.

The Democrats are also creating confusion within the party. The $1 trillion infrastructure investment bill passed by the Senate after protesting from Republicans is unpredictable due to divisions within the Democrats.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on the same day that the $1 trillion infrastructure investment bill would be processed on the 30th, but progressive Democrats are pressured to oppose the infrastructure investment bill if the social infrastructure investment bill is not expanded.

In this situation, President Biden told reporters on the same day that he was “born an optimist” and that he was not very concerned about the current situation.

New York = Correspondent Baek Jong-min cinqange@asiae.co.kr