Every president has had to deal with some sort of economic crisis. For Obama, it was the recession and for Trump, it was the government shutdown. President Biden is now facing three problems in the upcoming month that he is pressured to help congress solve. The first is the debt ceiling. According to CNBC, the US has raised or suspended the debt ceiling 78 times since 1960. The debt ceiling according to the Treasury Department is, “the total amount of money that the United States government is authorized to borrow to meet its existing legal obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits, military salaries, interest on the national debt, tax refunds, and other payments.” Basically, it is the amount of money the US is legally allowed to borrow for government funding. If the limit is not raised, the country could hurt the stock market, raise the cost of loans, and possibly put the US in its first ever default. However, Biden has signed a bill to temporarily suspend the limit and congress will have until early December to raise the ceiling.
The second item is Biden’s economic bills. He has proposed two separate trillion dollar economic plans that include free community college, universal pre-k, higher child tax credit, and many more. However, Democrats need all 50 senators to pass both bills. Two senators are holding out: Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. President Biden and Chuck Schummer have negotiated with both, and while Manchin has given a 1.5 trillion dollar price tag, Sinema has yet to say an offer publicly.
The third and final piece is yearly government funding. Without funding that must be passed yearly, another government shutdown looms in the US. Congress passed a bill averting a September shutdown and Biden signed a bill giving Congress till December 3rd to pass a longer appropriations bill.
President Biden isn’t a full year into his first term and has already faced numerous challenges including the pandemic. And it is not over. With the 2022 midterm elections approaching, many bills passed in the next few months will be critical for senators and congresspeople hoping to keep their jobs.
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