DeSantis calls debt deal 'inadequate' to get US economy back on track

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
30 May 2023 12:00

US presidential candidate for 2024, Ron DeSantis, believes that such deals are driven by political motivations, aimed at reaching the next election rather than addressing long-term issues.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a political roundtable, Friday, May 19, 2023, in Bedford, N.H. (AP)

US Republican Florida Governor and 2024 presidential candidate Ron DeSantis jumped his gun to criticize the freshly struck debt ceiling deal between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, to declare that the US is still spiraling towards bankruptcy.

According to DeSantis, the US was already treading on thin ice before the deal, which he saw as something that won't change the current situation.

"To say you can do 4 trillion [dollars] of increases in the next year-and-a-half, I mean, that’s a massive amount of spending. I think that we’ve gotten ourselves on a trajectory here — really since March of 2020, with some of the COVID spendings, and totally reset the budget, and they’re sticking with that. And I think that that’s just going to be totally inadequate to get us in a better spot," the governor told US media.

DeSantis believes that such deals are driven by political motivations, aimed at reaching the next election rather than addressing long-term issues, which he suggested is an approach illustrating the example behind repeated failures in Washington, DC.

DeSantis calls debt deal 'inadequate' to get US economy back on track.

This comes after the speaker and president struck a deal "in principle" to raise the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, just days before the expected default which Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen set on June 5.

"And after weeks of negotiations, we have come to an agreement in principle," the House Speaker said. It is an agreement "worthy of the American people," yet there is still “a lot of work to do”.

Biden described the deal as an "important step forward” that maintained Democrat's key agenda.

While the agreement draft is still being written to be presented to Congress and no official confirmation yet on the details has been announced, reports suggest that the ceiling would be suspended for two years but would be capped for non-defense discretionary expenses until January 2025 and increased by just 1 percent after that.

The deal's expiry date means that Congress would not have to vote on the issue again in 2024, ensuring that another debt-row crisis will not occur during the presidential elections of that year. While non-defense spending would be capped, the military budget is expected to be increased to around $885 billion, an 11% boost from the current budget.

McCarthy gave House members 72 hours to read the bill before he presents it to a vote on Wednesday. It is expected that it will be tough to secure support from Democrats and Republicans on the two extremes.