Aurelia Butler

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. House of Representatives could vote this week to raise the federal government’s $28.9 trillion debt limit, the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat told reporters on Monday, without providing details on how such an effort might unfold.Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has urged Congress to act by Dec. 15 and a bipartisan think tank warned https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/what-happens-if-washington-falls-behind-its-bills-2021-12-03 last week the U.S. government could run out of ways to cover its obligations by late this month, which would trigger an unprecedented default that would rock the global financial system.”Hopefully we will be able to resolve a way that that (a debt limit bill) can be done in the next few days,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told a news conference.Top Republicans have been calling on President Joe Biden’s Democrats to hike the debt limit without Republican votes, using a process known as reconciliation. Democrats note the increased debt is needed largely to cover the cost of tax cuts and spending programs during former President Donald Trump’s administration, which congressional Republicans supported.But Democratic leaders in the House and Senate were searching for a way to win passage.Senate Republicans also expressed optimism that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and his Republican counterpart, Mitch McConnell, would soon work out a debt ceiling agreement.”I don’t think that anybody wants to see the full faith and credit of the United States damaged. And so, I’m an optimist,” Senator John Cornyn said after a meeting with McConnell and other leading Republican lawmakers. Cornyn said he believes the Treasury could extend its debt ceiling deadline into January, possibly by using money from the Highway Trust Fund. “But I don’t see any reason to delay the conversation,” he said of ongoing talks between Schumer and McConnell. “If they can get this behind us, I think we’d all be better off.”Hoyer said it was possible that Democrats would attach the debt-hike initiative to a national defense authorization bill now moving through Congress.A sizeable number of liberal Democrats voted against House passage of the defense bill and attaching the debt limit to it could ruin chances for getting enough Republican votes as well after the Senate passes a revised version.AMONG SEVERAL MAJOR INITIATIVESThe debt limit is just one of several major initiatives that Democratic congressional leaders want to debate before the end of the year.Schumer also wants additional votes on voting rights reforms, which have been repeatedly blocked by Senate Republicans, and Biden’s $1.75 trillion “Build Back Better” domestic investments bill this month.Schumer noted that the Senate parliamentarian still has to review many components of the legislation, including an immigration provision, and decide whether they qualify to be included in the bill under a special budget reconciliation process that imposes tighter controls than regular legislation.He did not say how he would advance voting rights legislation if Republicans engage in an expected filibuster that would require 60 votes in the 100-member chamber to break a deadlock. Many Democrats have been urging Schumer to push for a change in the Senate’s filibuster rule.Last week, following a meeting Schumer held with a group of Democrats, Senator Jon Tester said he doubted a showdown over the filibuster could be staged this month given the Senate’s heavy legislative schedule.”There’s just too much stuff on the docket,” he told Reuters. More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – World Bank President David Malpass on Monday said fiscal and monetary policies were operating in “uncharted territory” since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and may be contributing to a sharp rise in global inequality and poverty.Malpass told a roundtable hosted by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang the number of people in extreme poverty had increased by over 100 million since the beginning of the pandemic even as global spending has increased to an all-time record.Advanced economies have rebounded, while the poorest countries had seen only a weak rebound, or none at all, he said. This was causing “tragic reversals” in median incomes, women’s empowerment and nutrition, he said, and inflation, supply chain bottlenecks, and high energy prices were aggravating these trends.”Part of the inequality problem is global finance itself and the unequal structure of the stimulus,” Malpass said, noting that prevailing sovereign debt, fiscal and monetary policies were adding to inequality.Malpass said monetary policy in the advanced economies had long focused on reserve requirement ratios and limited growth in bank reserves to achieve stability in currencies and prices, an approach still used by China.Other major central banks had switched to a “post-monetarism system” of using very large amounts of excess bank reserves to purchase and hold long-duration bonds and other assets, which he said provided price support for a highly select group of assets.That approach, he said, excluded small businesses and developing countries, while restraining policy through regulation of liquidity and bank capitalization ratios.Fiscal policy was also channeling resources to narrow groups within major borrowers, while leaving others behind, and sovereign debt policies were contributing to inequality.Malpass repeated his call for greater transparency in debt contracts and a freeze in debt payments for countries with unsustainable debt. He said creditors should move away from collateral and escrow arrangements.”As one of the largest creditors of developing countries, China’s active participation and strong voice in debt reduction efforts are very much needed and would benefit all participants by encouraging sustainable investment and debt,” he said. More