Biden Praises Debt Ceiling Deal in Rare Oval Office Address, Eyes Saturday Signing
© AFP 2023 / DANIEL SLIM
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The president’s speech on Friday follows the congressional passage of legislation that Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy were able to hammer out in a bipartisan move between the two parties.
US President Joe Biden made a rare Oval Office address on Friday praising the passage of the debt ceiling agreement, which he plans to sign into law on Saturday.
The vote came just in time, as the US faced the threat of a default by June 5 should the deal not have passed. The deal will suspend the debt ceiling for two years, and outlines spending plans for the future.
Biden has noted the legislation will cut the deficit by $1 trillion over the next 10 years.
“When I ran for president, I was told the days of bipartisanship were over, that Democrats and Republicans can no longer work together— but I refused to believe that, because America can never give in to that way of thinking," Biden said in his opening remarks.
“The only way American democracy can function is through compromise and consensus, and that’s what I work to do as your president, to forge bipartisan agreement where it’s possible and where it’s needed,” the president said, touting that he has “signed more than 350 bipartisan laws thus far” during his term as president.
“Passing this budget agreement was critical: the stakes could not have been higher. 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 on our national debt.”
“Nothing, nothing would have been more irresponsible, nothing would have been more catastrophic: our economy would have been thrown into a recession, retirement accounts for millions of Americans would have been decimated. Eight million Americans would have lost their jobs. Default would have destroyed our nation’s credit rating,” the president said, adding that car loans, mortgages, and government funding more expensive.
“America’s standing as the most trusted, reliable, financial partner in the world would have been shattered.”
“No one got everything they wanted,” the president said, likely referring to the 11 proposed amendments that were shot down in the US Senate. “But the American people got what they needed: we averted an economic crisis, an economic collapse.”
The president later congratulated congressional leaders who “put the good of the country ahead of politics.”
After congratulating the bipartisan work of the legislators who worked on the bill, Biden, who is running for reelection in 2024, took the opportunity to criticize former President Donald Trump’s handling of the country’s deficit, as well as the GOP’s original bill.
“We’re all in a much more fiscally responsible course than the one I inherited when I took office,” said Biden. “When I came to office, the deficit had increased every year the previous four years, and nearly $8 trillion were added to the national debt in the last administration. And now we’re turning things around, and that’s good for America.”
“The original House Republican proposal would have cut health care for up to 21 million Americans on Medicaid and I said, ‘No,’” the president said of the Republicans’ original budget plan, adding that the GOP wanted to cut funding for veterans’ health.
“Some of our Republican colleagues were determined to cut the clean energy investments, and I said, ‘No.’”
The president added that, in addition to controlling spending, he would like to raise revenue by making sure “everyone is paying their fair share,” referring to tax cheats and cuts for the wealthy.
“No one making less than $400,000 a year will pay a penny more in federal taxes. But like most of you at home, I know the federal tax system isn't fair,” Biden said. “That’s why last year I secured more IRS funding to go after wealthy tax cheats.”
“Republicans may not like it, but I’m going to make sure the wealthy pay their fair share,” Biden added that his bill would save nearly $400 billion, while bringing in $150 billion.
“I’ve also proposed closing over a dozen special interest tax loopholes from big oil. Crypto traders, hedge fund billionaires, saving taxpayers billions of dollars. Republicans defended every single one of these special interest loopholes. Every single one,” said Biden, adding that the average billionaire in the US pays just 8% in federal taxes.
“I know bipartisanship is hard, and unity is hard, but we can never stop trying. Because in moments like this one, the one we just faced where the American economy and the world economy are at risk of collapsing, there’s no other way,” the president said in his conclusion.
The US had been functioning under "extraordinary measures" since January after the US Department of Treasury temporarily stepped in to delay an imminent government default.
US Treasury Secretary repeatedly called on congressional lawmakers to act quickly as a default would cause serious setback, ranging from a failure to pay government-backed programs to an all-out economic fallout.
