US President Barack Obama early yesterday won passage by the US Congress of legislation that lifted the threat of a default on government debt through the end of his presidency and a budget blueprint easing strict spending caps through September 2017.
The US Senate voted 64-35 to approve the measure, which was negotiated over the past few weeks by the White House and congressional leaders, including newly retired former House speaker John Boehner.
Obama is expected to promptly sign the bill into law.
Without action by Congress, the US Department of the Treasury would have exhausted the last of its borrowing capacity on Tuesday, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said.
That, in turn, risked a default on US obligations within days that would roil global financial markets.
The two-year budget provision provides new top-line spending levels for Congress for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1 and the one starting Oct. 1 next year.
It loosens budget caps, allowing an additional US$80 billion in spending on military and domestic programs over the next two years.
However, lawmakers still need to allocate that money among thousands of budget line items. They face a Dec. 11 deadline, when existing spending authority by government agencies expires, and a spirited fight is expected.
Conservative Republicans are likely to try to attach some controversial policy add-ons, such as prohibiting funding for women’s healthcare provider Planned Parenthood to punish it for its abortion activities.
Some might also try to undo “Dodd-Frank” Wall Street reforms enacted after the 2008 to 2009 financial crisis, or prohibit new regulations on carbon emissions.
During Senate debate on Thursday, conservatives railed against the budget and debt limit bill.
Republican US Senator Rand Paul, who is running for president, complained in a floor speech: “The right is going to get more military money. The left is going to get more welfare money. The secret handshake goes on and the American public gets stuck with the bill.”
US Senator Ted Cruz, a rival Republican presidential candidate, returned to Washington from the campaign trail to accuse Republican majorities in Congress of “handing the president a blank credit card for the remainder of his tenure.”
US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican who helped negotiate the bill, praised the measure for rejecting tax increases and said that the added spending would be offset by savings elsewhere in the government.
He also said it would “enact the most significant reform to social security since 1983.”
The estimated US$168 billion in long-term savings from the program would be achieved by clamping down on medical fraud and excess claims associated with disability benefits.
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
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A South Korean judge who last week more than doubled former South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee’s prison sentence was found dead yesterday, police said. Shin Jong-o was found unconscious at about 1am at the Seoul High Court building, an investigator at the Seocho District Police Station in Seoul said. Shin was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, he said. “There is no sign of foul play in the death,” the investigator added. Local media reported that Shin had left a suicide note, but the investigator said there was none. On Tuesday last week, Shin presided over 53-year-old Kim’s appeal trial, finding her guilty
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