WASHINGTON, June 3 (Reuters) – President Joe Biden signed a bill on Saturday to suspend the U.S. government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling.
The House and Senate passed the legislation this week after Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached an agreement following tense negotiations.
The Treasury Department has warned that if Congress fails to act by then, it will not be able to pay all its bills on Monday.
Biden signed the bill at the White House a day after hailing it as a bipartisan victory in his first Oval Office address to the nation as president.
The bill’s signing, which was closed to the press, marked a low-key, symbolic end to a crisis that has plagued Washington for months, forced Biden to cut short an international trip to Asia and threatened to push the United States to the brink of a crisis. An unprecedented economic crisis.
“Thank you for the partnership of Speaker McCarthy, Speaker Jeffries, Speaker Schumer and Speaker McConnell,” the White House announced the signing in a statement, naming the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate.
Officials later released a ten-second clip of Biden quietly signing the document at the White House.
“Reaching an agreement is very important, and it’s very good news for the American people,” Biden said Friday. “Nobody got everything they wanted, but the American people got what they needed.”
The Republican-controlled House voted 314 to 117 to approve the bill, while the Democratic-controlled Senate voted 63 to 36.
Fitch Ratings said on Friday that the US’s “AAA” credit rating would remain on negative watch, despite a deal to allow the government to meet its obligations.
Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional reporting by Eric Beach; Editing by Nick Zieminski
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