Global Courant
President Joe Biden addressed the nation in a primetime address Friday after Congress averted an economically catastrophic bankruptcy with just days left by passing legislation to raise the country’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling.
Speaking from behind the Resolute Desk in his first Oval Office address, the president stressed that “unity” had made it possible.
“When I ran for president, I was told the days of bipartisanship were over,” he said. “That Democrats, Republicans couldn’t work together anymore. I refused to believe that because America can never give in to that mindset.”
Biden signed the bill into law Saturday.
“I just signed a bipartisan budget agreement that prevents a first-ever default while reducing the deficit, protecting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and fulfilling our fearful obligation to our veterans. Now we continue to build the strongest economy in the world,” Biden tweeted Saturday.
Biden hailed the deal he struck with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as a win for American families and a testament to his ability to compromise to keep the nation on track — themes he is using in his 2024 reelection campaign.
“Essential to all the progress we’ve made in recent years is preserving the full confidence and honor of the United States and passing a budget that continues to grow our economy and reflects our values as a nation,” he said. “That’s why I’m speaking to you tonight. To report on a crisis averted and what we’re doing to protect America’s future. Passing this budget deal was critical. The stakes couldn’t have been higher.”
Noting how the deal came about, he said no one got everything they wanted, but still acted to avoid the worst-case scenario: a bankruptcy that would likely have triggered a recession and lost millions of jobs.
President Joe Biden speaks from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on June 2, 2023.
ABC News, POOL
“I know that duality is hard, and unity is hard,” he said. “But we can never stop trying. Because in moments like this, which we’ve just been through, where the U.S. economy is in danger of collapsing the global economy, there’s no other way, no matter how hard our politics get, we shouldn’t see each other as opponents, but as fellow Americans.”
He repeated one of his most important lines from his inaugural address, urging Americans to “stop screaming, lower the temperature and work together to move forward.”
The Fiscal Responsibility Act is the result of months of back and forth between Biden and McCarthy. It raises the debt ceiling until January 1, 2025, in exchange for some federal spending cuts.
Biden’s signing of the bill Saturday ends weeks of fears that the nation would plunge into economic turmoil by being unable to pay all of its bills, including Social Security or Medicaid benefits, on time and in full for the first time in history.
In his Oval Office address, Biden particularly praised McCarthy and the GOP and White House negotiating teams for being “completely fair and respectful to each other,” and praised the work of other top leaders in Congress.
“They acted responsibly to put the welfare of the country above politics,” Biden said, adding that “both sides kept their word.”
Earlier, when ABC News’ Elizabeth Schulze asked why Biden chose the Oval Office for the speech, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said he wanted to meet the “seriousness” of the moment.
While Biden worked behind the scenes to close the deal, he sometimes frustrated Democrats — especially members of the party’s progressive wing — who feared he was giving in too much to Republican demands.
At one point, several members of his party urged him to go it alone and use the 14th Amendment to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling, an idea that Biden ultimately rejected in this situation, but which he said he would would study.
“I have made it clear that the only way forward is a bipartisan compromise that can earn the support of both sides,” he said earlier this week. “This agreement meets that test.”
The finished product gave both Democrats and Republicans something to celebrate: The White House praised its protection of key priorities and legislative achievements, while McCarthy sold it to his caucus as much-needed restraint on government spending.
“I wanted to make history,” McCarthy said as he rode a victory lap after the House passed the bill. “I wanted to do something that no other Congress has done, which is that we literally turn the ship around and spend less than we did the year before for the first time in quite some time. Tonight we all made history.”
Moderates from both parties gave the bill the necessary approval in the House and Senate, but more Democrats in Congress ultimately voted for the bill than Republicans.
“Democrats are feeling very good tonight,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., said triumphantly after Thursday’s vote. “We saved the country from the scourge of default.”
Schumer argued that the Democrats are “hitting back the worst of the Republican agenda,” including deeper cuts that would have dismantled parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, taken people off federal aid and blocked Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan.
Biden also celebrated on Friday that the bill leaves Social Security, Medicaid, veterans’ benefits and other priorities untouched before turning to a list of other priorities he plans to implement next, including more deficit reduction and increasing revenue through wealthy Americans to “make their honesty pay”. part.”
“I’ll be back and with your help I’m going to win,” he said.
