![]() ![]() READ MORE: Lawsuit calls on Treasury Secretary Yellen to ignore ‘unconstitutional’ debt limit ![]() Biden and the big four congressional leaders of the House and Senate will convene at the White House with neither side yet signaling a willingness to budge off its opening position.īiden wants Congress to simply raise the debt limit without any strings attached, while Republicans led by McCarthy are insisting on budget cuts in exchange for any votes to allow more borrowing to pay the nation’s bills. ![]() “That’s what the president is going to be very clear about.”Īt Tuesday’s first meeting, it’s extremely unlikely there will be any quick resolution. “It’s Congress’ constitutional duty to act to prevent default,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday. There’s no easy endgame ahead of a June 1 deadline to raise the debt ceiling or risk defaulting on the nation’s $31 trillion in debt. They also could let the negotiations unravel, sending the economy into chaos.Īs President Joe Biden meets Tuesday with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other congressional leaders for the first time over the debt ceiling crisis, the options for easing out of the standoff are many.īut the political incentive for compromise is harder to come by. Or they could agree to a stopgap measure to keep paying the nation’s bills while negotiations continue. Now, with year-over-year inflation having eased from 9.1% a year ago to 4%, Powell has indicated that the Fed wants to move much more slowly.Ī slower pace of rate increases, Powell has said, could help the Fed achieve a tricky feat: Weaken the economy enough to tame inflation, without undermining it so much as to cause a deep recession.WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House and Congress could strike a deal to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for budget cuts. Last year, the Fed jacked up its benchmark rate at a breakneck pace, including by three-quarters of a point on four occasions. The goal has been to cool inflation by slowing spending and hiring. The central bank’s streak of rate increases have made borrowing for consumers and businesses more expensive across a range of loans, including home and auto loans, credit cards and business borrowing. Instead, as he reiterated Wednesday, Fed officials will monitor economic data and make their rate decisions “meeting by meeting.” Speaking at a news conference last week, Powell said there were no plans to raise rates at every other meeting or to follow any other particular time frame. Yet they might not follow through if economic data suggests that inflation is falling quickly back to their 2% target. The policymakers indicated last week that they expect to raise rates twice more this year. What actions the central bank might take after that remains much less clear. Most economists have said they believe that a rate hike at the Fed’s next meeting in late July is all but assured. In his remarks Wednesday, Powell also indicated that the Fed chose to keep its key interest rate steady last week so it could assess the impact of three large bank failures this spring on the banking sector and whether the failures would reduce credit to consumers and businesses and slow the economy. The hazier messaging suggests that Powell is seeking to balance competing demands from those Fed officials who want to keep raising rates and others who feel the central bank has done enough. The contrast between the Fed’s stated concern over still-high inflation and its decision to skip a rate hike has heightened uncertainty about its next moves. “Inflation pressures continue to run high, and the process of getting inflation back down to 2% has a long way to go,” Powell said on the first of two days of semi-annual testimony on Capitol Hill.Įven so, the Fed last week kept interest rates unchanged after 10 straight hikes so it could take time to gauge how higher borrowing rates have affected the economy, Powell said. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |