Robert Reich: 'There’s no time for further negotiations' because the debt deal 'must' pass

28 May 2023

President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (D-CA) reached a tentative deal Saturday that would raise the debt ceiling and avoid default.

Economist Robert Reich argues in an op-ed for The Guardian that the White House and House lawmakers "can" pass the deal, "because they must."

Per Reuters, "The deal would avert an economically destabilizing default, so long as they succeed in passing it through the narrowly divided Congress before the Treasury Department runs short of money to cover all its obligations, which it warned Friday will occur if the debt ceiling is not raised by June 5."

Furthermore, the economist asserts, "What happens from here depends on how many members of the House prefer governing to chaos."

Reich writes:

Most House Democrats will go along with the deal because they believe in government, and they don’t want America to default – with potentially cataclysmic consequences domestically and internationally.

Many in the House Maga crowd, on the other hand, will see this vote as an opportunity to show their supporters that they’re willing to blow up the system, because they were voted in on their promise to blow up the system.

Additionally, Reich points out, although the "MAGA Right crazies" possibly won't "go along" with the deal, he says, "there’s no time for further negotiations, and neither side would give anything else away."

He argues:

The only relevant question is whether Republican McCarthy and Democrat Biden, the US president, along with House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic congressman from New York, can cobble together a majority to pass it before 5 June.

Robert Reich's full op-ed is available at this link.

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