Biden lauds ‘crisis averted’ with US debt ceiling deal in first Oval Office address

WASHINGTON - US President Joe Biden declared a “crisis averted” on Friday in his first address from the White House’s Oval Office, as he touted the passage of a Bill to raise the debt ceiling and curb spending.

Mr Biden used the moment to plead with Americans to bridge their divides, saying his compromise with Republican House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy showed what could be done.

“No matter how tough our politics get, we need to see each other not as adversaries but as fellow Americans,” he said, asking Americans to “stop shouting, lower the temperature and work together to pursue progress”.

Mr Biden said he will on Saturday sign into law

the Bill passed by Congress this week

, concluding months of uncertainty and averting what would have been a first-ever US default as early as Monday.

“I’m going to sign tomorrow,” he said to the nation.

“It was critical to reach an agreement, and it’s very good news for the American people. No one got everything they wanted. But the American people got what they needed,” Mr Biden said while sitting at the historic “Resolute Desk” in the presidential office. “We averted an economic crisis, an economic collapse.”

After nail-biting negotiations, both the Senate and the House of Representatives passed the Bill that lifts the government’s US$31.4 trillion (S$42.4 trillion) debt ceiling.

Mr Biden, a Democrat, said that to preserve US economic progress, it was critical to keep the country’s full faith and credit intact.

“The stakes could not have been higher,” he added.

The President, who is running for re-election, noted other bipartisan Bills he has signed and offered praise to Mr McCarthy, who was his primary negotiating partner.

Mr McCarthy, a supporter of former president Donald Trump, was one of 147 Republicans who voted, unsuccessfully, to overturn the 2020 election that Mr Biden won. 

“We were able to get along, get things done,” Mr Biden said. “Both sides operated in good faith.”

Republicans refused to increase the debt ceiling for months, asking Mr Biden and Democrats to cut spending in the 2024 budget in return. The White House asked for a clean debt ceiling deal before starting negotiations.

Ultimately, Mr Biden and Mr McCarthy cobbled together a last-minute deal that suspends the debt limit until January 2025 and caps spending.

The Republican-controlled House voted 314 to 117 to approve the Bill, and the Democrat-controlled Senate voted 63 to 36.

“The final vote in both chambers was overwhelming,” Mr Biden said.

Fitch Ratings said on Friday that the US’ AAA credit rating would remain on negative watch, despite the agreement that will allow the government to meet its obligations.

Oval Office address

US presidents have generally reserved an address from the Oval Office for the most significant, and dramatic of events: The terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001, for example, or the space shuttle explosion in 1986.

The White House said Mr Biden was making his remarks there because of the gravity of the situation had the debt ceiling not been raised.

Former president Ronald Reagan spoke to the nation from the Oval Office after the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle, and former president George W. Bush used the venue to address the country after the Sept 11 attacks. Former president Barack Obama made remarks from the Oval Office in the aftermath of the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf Coast.

Mr Biden, who came into office in January 2021, has spoken before to the nation during “primetime” hours, including his State of the Union addresses from the Capitol and a speech from the White House East Room during the Covid-19 pandemic.

But the Friday night address is his first from the Oval Office, a setting that highlights the power and authority of the presidency, as Mr Biden seeks a second term against a growing field of Republican candidates. REUTERS