The US Senate on Thursday night dodged a debt disaster for the country, voting to extend the US government’s borrowing authority into December and temporarily avert an unprecedented US federal default that experts warned would devastate the US economy and harm millions of Americans.
The party-line Democratic vote of 50 to 48 in support of the bill to raise the government’s debt ceiling by nearly US$500 billion brought instant relief in Washington and far beyond.
However, it provides only a reprieve. Assuming that the House of Representatives goes along with the Senate’s vote, Republican and Democratic US lawmakers would still have to tackle their deep differences on the issue once more before the end of the year.
Photo: AFP
That debate would take place as lawmakers also work to fund the federal government for the new fiscal year and as they keep up their bitter battling over US President Joe Biden’s top domestic priorities — a bipartisan infrastructure plan with nearly US$550 billion in new spending, as well as a much more expansive US$3.5 trillion effort focused on health, safety net programs and the environment.
Easing the crisis at hand — a disastrous default looming in just weeks — US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell offered his support for allowing a short-term extension of the government’s borrowing authority after leading solid Republican opposition to a longer extension.
He acted as Biden and business leaders ramped up their concerns that a default would disrupt government payments to millions of Americans and throw the nation into recession.
The Republican senators’ concession to give up their blockade for now was not popular with some members of the Republican caucus, who complained that the nation’s debt levels are unsustainable.
“I can’t vote to raise this debt ceiling, not right now, especially given the plans at play to increase spending immediately by another US$3.5 trillion,” US Senator Mike Lee said shortly before the vote.
US Senator Ted Cruz said that Democrats had been on “a path to surrender” on the process used to lift the debt cap, but “unfortunately, yesterday, Republicans blinked.”
Eleven Republican senators voted to end debate, providing the threshold needed to move the bill to a final vote.
However, no Republicans sided with Democrats in the final vote for the measure, after McConnell has said the majority party would have to increase the debt ceiling on its own.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS