President Biden addresses nation over debt limit deal

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - President Biden addressed the nation Friday as the U.S. averts a first-ever default on its debt.

The president delivered prepared remarks for 15 minutes from the Oval Office. The address comes after Congress voted last-minute to raise the country’s borrowing limit following months of drama and uncertainty.

President Biden let Americans know the threat of economic catastrophe is gone. The threat of default caused a nationwide and global scare. Forecasts included social security and veterans benefits not being paid on time, skyrocketing interest rates and even for millions to lose their jobs.

“Passing this budget agreement was critical. The stakes could not have been higher,” said Biden. “If we had failed to reach an agreement on the budget, there were extreme voices threatening to take America for the first time in our 247-year history into default.”

President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) compromised for the ‘Fiscal Responsibility Act.’ The bill suspends the debt ceiling until January 1, 2025, along with changing federal spending.

Following the House passage of the bill, Speaker McCarthy said, “Is it everything I wanted? No. But sitting with one house with a Democratic senate and a Democratic president who didn’t want to meet with us, I think we did pretty dang good for the American public.”

George Washington University political science professor Sarah Binder points out it is a small deal in terms of its length but big enough for both parties to claim victory. Binder said Americans should also prepare themselves for future dramatic political fights like the one.

“So long as the parties are tightly competitive, right, they each share roughly half the public support, roughly half the Congress. So long as those conditions persist, we’re still going to see this sort of just in time legislating to avert really bad things from happening,” said Binder.

The White House says President Biden could sign the bill as soon as Saturday.

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