US President Joe Biden addresses the nation on averting default and the Bipartisan Budget Agreement, in the Oval Office of the White House. Photo: JIM WATSON / AFP
US President Joe Biden declared a "crisis averted" on Friday (US time) in his first address from the White House's Oval Office, as he touted the passage of a bill to raise the US debt ceiling and curb spending.
Biden, a Democrat, said he would sign the bill into law on Saturday, concluding months of uncertainty and averting what would have been a first-ever US default as early as 5 June.
"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," Biden said while sitting at the historic 'Resolute Desk' in the presidential office.
After nail-biting negotiations, both the Senate and the House of Representatives passed a bill this week that lifts the government's US$31.4 trillion debt ceiling.
Biden said to preserve US economic progress it was critical to keep the country's full faith and credit intact. The new law averted a crisis, he said.
"The stakes could not have been higher," Biden said.
The president, who is running for re-election, noted other bipartisan bills he has signed and offered praise to Kevin McCarthy, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, who was his primary negotiating partner.
GǣThe final vote in both chambers was overwhelming, Biden said. The Senate voted 63 to 36 to approve the bill, and the House 314 to 117.
Fitch Ratings said on Friday the United States' AAA credit rating would remain on negative watch, despite the agreement that will allow the government to meet its obligations.
US presidents have generally reserved an address from the Oval Office for the most significant, and dramatic of events: the attacks of 11 September, 2001, for example, or the Challenger space shuttle explosion.
The White House said 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 in 1986; and former President George W. Bush used the venue to address the country after the 11 September, 2001 attacks. Former President Barack Obama made remarks from the Oval Office in the aftermath of the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf Coast.
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 Biden seeks a second term against a growing field of Republican candidates.
- Reuters
