Joe Biden tried to make the best of the fiscal truce he negotiated with Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy late on Saturday, designed to prevent a potentially devastating default on US debt in little more than a week.“The agreement represents a compromise, which means not everyone gets what they want,” the US president said. “That’s the responsibility of governing.”
While the pact will cement Biden’s reputation for bipartisan dealmaking, it comes at a cost. For months he had pleaded for Congress to raise the country’s $31.4tn borrowing limit without a fight, only to be drawn into frenzied budget negotiations in Washington that forced him to cut short a trip to Asia.
Many Democrats — particularly those furthest to the left — have grown increasingly unhappy about the terms of the deal as it came together this week, worrying that he was offering too many concessions.