WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden and Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy have reached a tentative deal to raise the federal government’s debt ceiling to $31.4 trillion, ending a months-long standoff.
Here are some quotes from the announcement and reactions to the news:
DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN
“Earlier tonight, President McCarthy and I reached an agreement in principle on the budget.
“This is an important step forward that cuts spending while protecting essential programs for working people and growing the economy for all. And, the agreement protects key legislative priorities and achievements of Congressional Democrats. and of myself.
“The deal represents a compromise, which means not everyone gets what they want. It’s the government’s responsibility.
“And, this agreement is good news for the American people because it prevents what could have been a catastrophic default and would have led to an economic recession, devastated retirement accounts and millions of lost jobs.
“The following day, our negotiating teams will finalize the legislative text and the agreement will go to the United States House and Senate. I urge both houses to pass the agreement immediately.”
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLICAN HOUSE KEVIN MCCARTHY
“I just hung up on the president – spoke to him twice today – and after weeks of negotiations we have reached an agreement in principle.
“We still have a lot of work to do, but I think this is an agreement in principle worthy of the American people.
“He has historic spending cuts, back-to-back reforms that will lift people out of poverty into the workforce, curb government excesses – there are no new taxes, no new government programs.
“There is a lot more in the bill. We still have work to do tonight to finish all the drafting”…
“I expect to finish drafting the bill, check with the White House and speak to the president again tomorrow afternoon, then release the text tomorrow, then vote on it Wednesday.”
DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATIVE TED LIU
“Tonight I was informed that there was a tentative agreement between the White House and House Republicans. This was a crisis fabricated by House Republicans. It’s up to House Republicans to defuse this crisis. And as soon as we learn the details of the disagreement in principle, administration officials will provide that information to the Democratic members of our caucus.”
REPUBLICAN REPRESENTATIVE BOB GOOD
“I hear the ‘deal’ is for a $4 trillion increase in the debt ceiling. If that’s true, I don’t need to hear anything else. No one claiming to be conservative could justify a YES vote.”
DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATIVE JUDY CHU
“I will be looking to see if there are these increased work demands for the poor. I thought that was the worst part of their (Republican) proposals because it would only serve to inflict pain on the poor.”
“If we didn’t come to an agreement…the average American would clearly see a blow…we had to come to some sort of conclusion here.”
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom, Ismail Shakil and Gram Slattery; Editing by Heather Timmons and David Gregorio)