With the United States closer than ever to running out of money, President Joe Biden and Congress have avoided a national default that would have been a self-inflicted economic disaster for the country.
The Senate approved a debt deal reached by the White House and President Kevin McCarthy late Thursday night by a vote of 63 to 36 after a series of failed amendments, capping a week that has infuriated the base of both parties and highlighted Washington’s dysfunction.
But in the end, both houses approved the deal by wide bipartisan margins and ended one of the most stressful weeks of Biden’s presidency.
“No one gets everything they want in a negotiation, but make no mistake: This bipartisan agreement is a great win for our economy and the American people,” Biden said in a statement Thursday.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., who was aided by his counterpart, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., led a legislative clinic in the final hours of the saga after a series of behind-the-scenes discussions about how to get the bill across the finish line.
For most of the day, it looked like the Senate wouldn’t pass the final vote until Friday, but Schumer bragged about how quickly the upper house acted to prevent the country from moving closer to a inch of the defect.
“America can breathe a sigh of relief,” he said. “Despite all the ups and downs and twists and turns it took to get here, it’s been so good for this country that both sides have finally come together to avoid default.”
Here are the takeaways from Thursday’s debate in the Senate.
Graham throws down the gauntlet of defense
For most of Thursday, rank-and-file senators from both parties resisted their leadership and floated plans that could have derailed the Biden-McCarthy deal by seeking change.
Among the most serious threats came from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R.S.C., a defense hawk who was furious that the Pentagon’s budget had grown to $886 billion – an increase of about 3% – the year next, arguing that he hadn’t kept up. with inflation.
“To my colleagues in the House, I can’t believe you did this,” Graham said. “To the President, I know you have a tough job. I like you, but Ronald Reagan’s party is dying.”
Graham demanded at the very least a commitment from Senate leaders to address his concerns and bolster military spending in future proposals, and that same evening he obtained those assurances.
Schumer and McConnell unite to seal debt deal
In a rare moment, Schumer and McConnell, who both endorsed the deal, released a joint statement that addressed lawmakers’ concerns about the additional funding.
The 99-page debt agreement contains a threat of automatic, sweeping spending cuts if Congress does not approve a dozen separate spending proposals by Jan. 1.
“Leaders will seek and facilitate floor consideration of these bills with the cooperation of senators from both parties,” the Schumer-McConnell statement said.
The other objections didn’t seem likely to overturn Biden and McCarthy’s pact, but Senate leaders felt it was necessary to allow those talks in order to vent.
“We had a lot of members who had amendment requests,” said Sen. John Thune, RS.D., when asked about the significance of the amendments.
“We tried to accommodate them,” he added. “I think anyone who wanted to pass an amendment will pass it.”
Marathon of failed amendments
Any changes to the bill would have forced it back into the House and likely delayed its passage past the default June 5 deadline.
Once Schumer secured an agreement with the members to give their amendments some oxygen, he ran the Senate like a manufacturing assembly line under a strict deadline that saw the upper house reject 11 amendments.
Each required a 60-vote threshold to pass and began with a proposal from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who wanted to impose a 5% reduction in all spending over the next two years. This idea was rejected by 21 votes to 75.
After that, discussions were limited to 10 minutes and most of these proposed amendments were defeated by similar margins.
“I want to remind members that we were lenient in the first vote. It’s over,” Schumer said. “We’re taking 10-minute votes. Please remain in your seats so that we can finish this bill in a reasonable hour.”
A total of 10 amendments were made by Republicans and one by a Democrat calling for various changes to the deal, but Schumer made it clear earlier this week that any changes would have sent the measure back to the House and strangled the defaulting country. .
Bipartisan at all levels, but McConnell couldn’t deliver majority of GOP
There were a lot of things in the bill that Republicans and Democrats didn’t like.
Conservative members wanted deeper cuts and said cutting federal spending by $1.5 trillion over a decade had not been enough to reduce the country’s debt.
Liberals have accused the GOP of “hostage taking” and opposed expanding work requirements for food stamps, accelerating approval for oil and gas projects, and capping future spending.
But the biggest difference is that McConnell, unlike McCarthy, failed to convince the majority of his caucus to join him in supporting the plan.
Only 16 of 48 Senate Republicans have joined Democrats in supporting the deal. That’s in stark contrast to the 149 out of 222 Republican House members who backed the plan earlier this week.
Biden plans to address the country as fight against government shutdown looms
The deal is now heading to Biden’s desk where he is certain to sign it after pulling a nasty dish off his plate as he pivots to his re-election campaign message.
Biden thanked Senate leadership and bragged about how the plan protects “essential pillars” of his agenda, such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid protection; rebuilding America’s infrastructure; advancing clean energy; and safeguarding health care.
“Our work is far from done, but this agreement is a crucial step forward and a reminder of what is possible when we act in the best interests of our country,” he said.
“I look forward to signing this bill into law as soon as possible and speaking directly to the American people (Friday).”
The White House said the president will address the nation at 7 p.m. Friday.
Importantly, the deal suspends the limit on how much the federal government can borrow until January 2025, meaning the country will no longer be subject to a debt limit fight ahead of the presidential race in next year.
But the road ahead will still be difficult for the president and Congress, who must now agree on how to enforce the spending limits included in the agreement.
McCarthy, emboldened by the debt deal, has already telegraphed that the GOP-controlled House will look for ways to cut spending further. And Biden, after teasing progressives with some concessions, may be inclined to dig deeper into the 2024 campaign.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: US avoids default after Senate vote on debt ceiling: 5 takeaways.