quote of the day | Richard Hito’s blog

“I want to congratulate the president [de la Chambre des représentants Kevin] McCarthy. You know, he and I, us and our teams, managed to get along and get things done. We were frank with each other, completely honest with each other and respectful of each other. Both parties acted in good faith. Both parties kept their promise. »

– Joe BidenThe president of the United States, pitching to his political opponents Friday night during a brief address to the nation that capped a week marked by the approval of a bill stemming from bipartisanship that would allow the United States to avoid default in extreme cases. Against a backdrop of political polarization and toxic rhetoric, Biden’s remarks were extraordinary.

Note: In private, White House negotiators congratulate themselves for getting the best of McCarthy and his team, though they let them demand deep cuts in public, according to a report the The New York Timesfrom which I quote the following: “In the opinion of administration officials, the spending cuts enacted in the final blanket agreement are no worse than they would expect from the regular budget bills passed by a divided Congress. They agreed to structure the cuts so that they appear to save $1.5 trillion over the course of time.” A decade in the eyes of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. But thanks to side deals — including accounting tricks — White House officials estimate actual cuts could amount to just $136 billion over two years from the spending limits that are at the heart of the approval.

Note: There seems to be an unexpected fact supporting this theory: the number of Democrats who voted for the bill resulting from bipartisan agreement was higher than the number of Republicans in the House and Senate.

(AFP/Getty Images)