Budget: Biden on debt dispute: Unacceptable proposals

In view of the deadlocked negotiations in the US debt dispute, President Joe Biden has accused the Republicans of taking extreme positions. Some of the Republican negotiators’ proposals are simply “unacceptable,” said Biden at his final conference at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan. Republicans must understand that there can be no bipartisan agreement that “exclusively, exclusively” follows their terms.

Biden said he was ready to cut government spending as Republicans demanded. But one must also talk about government revenue, specifically about tax increases for top earners. The Republicans are not ready for that. Biden complained that there were “significant differences of opinion” on this point.

The US President announced he would be on the phone with Republican negotiator Kevin McCarthy on his flight home from Hiroshima. US media had previously reported that the Republican leader of the US House of Representatives had asked for a personal phone call with the President. “We can reach an agreement,” Biden said. “A default is not an option.”

At the beginning of June, the US government is threatened with a default if Biden’s team does not reach an agreement with the Republicans in Congress to raise the debt ceiling by then. In the USA, parliament sets such a limit at irregular intervals and determines how much money the state can borrow. This time the procedure has degenerated into bitter tugging, which harbors great dangers: A default by the world’s largest economy could trigger a global financial crisis and an economic downturn.

The dispute had accompanied Biden throughout his visit to Japan. The President was regularly informed in Hiroshima about the status of the negotiations. Because of the dispute, his participation in the G7 summit was at times even on the brink. Biden eventually said the second leg of his trip – a visit to Papua New Guinea and Australia – was canceled in order to return directly to Washington from Hiroshima on Sunday.