Biden signed debt ceiling bill into law

US President Biden on Saturday signed bipartisan legislation to suspend the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling. This prevented the US from repaying the debt, which plunged the economy into recession and triggered the financial crisis.

The president signed the legislation Saturday afternoon, two days before the government is expected to run out of money, according to estimates from the U.S. Treasury Department.

The legislation culminates weeks of tense negotiations between the White House and Republicans in the House of Representatives, fueled by Republican demands for spending cuts in exchange for raising the nation’s debt ceiling.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act suspends the debt ceiling until Jan. 1, 2025, extending the issue beyond the 2024 election in exchange for cuts to unspecified domestic programs and a 3 percent cap increase on military spending in fiscal year 2024.

The bill includes $45 billion for a recently created program that expands coverage for veterans, formally ends the three-year student loan freeze and accelerates large-scale energy and infrastructure projects.

“Nobody got everything they wanted, but the American people got what they needed,” Biden said Friday in his first major speech from the Oval Office as president. “We’ve avoided an economic crisis, an economic collapse.”