Debt ceiling bill won’t be signed until Saturday at the earliest

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Joe Biden won’t be signing the debt ceiling bill that passed Congress until tomorrow at the earliest.

“It won’t be today. The House and the Senate have to do their business, so we’re going to work very quickly to get this done to make sure we can sign it hopefully as soon as tomorrow,” Jean-Pierre said. Treasury secretary Janet Yellen said that the debt ceiling must be raised by 5 June, which means that Biden must sign the bill by the weekend to avoid default. Jean-Pierre said the White House is confident they can get the bill signed before June 5.

Jean-Pierre did not specify what Congress needs to do before getting it on Biden’s desk. Biden is planning to address the deal in a speech tonight at 7pm. Jean-Pierre said that he will focus on the bipartisan nature of the deal and how it benefits Americans.

“When you think about what could have happened here, to our seniors, to our veterans, to American families,” Jean-Pierre said. “That is something the president believes he has an opportunity to talk directly to the American people [about]. This could’ve been, as we’ve said over and over again, devastating.”

“He believes this is a good moment to lay that out and how we were able to come together to avert this crisis.”

Key events

White House spokeswoman says Joe Biden had no need for a doctor after Colorado fall

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is holding the daily press briefing right now and addressed a question on Joe Biden’s fall last night. Biden was in Colorado Springs at the graduation ceremony of the US Air Force Academy. Biden tripped on a sandbag onstage, caught himself with his hands and was helped up by three people.

“He tripped over a sandbag on the stage, briefly he tripped and got up, and continued what he was there to do,” Jean-Pierre said. “There was no need for the doctor to see him.”

Biden addressed reporters upon returning to Washington Thursday night, joking that “I got sandbagged”.

The Republican National Committee is tightening the requirements candidates will have to meet in order to get on the debate stage in August. There are nine Republican 2024 presidential candidates so far, and a handful more are expected to announce their runs in the coming weeks.

Candidates will have to get at least 40,000 individual campaign donors and receive at least 1% of voters in multiple national polls, according to the Washington Post. The first debate will be held in Milwaukee and hosted by Fox News.

Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis are currently the clear frontrunners, according to polls, with Trump ahead of the Florida governor by at least 30 points. Other candidates, like Nikki Haley and Tim Scott, have been polling well under 10%.

Donald Trump’s attorneys have been unable to find a classified document the former president said he had in a recording that was ultimately given to prosecutors, according to CNN.

The recording, taken in July 2021 at a Trump golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, has the former president saying that he retained a document on a potential attack on Iran.

Prosecutors have subpoenaed Trump for all classified materials and have recovered classified documents throughout 2022. Trump attorneys turned over more documents in March, but it did not include the document on Iran.

A Florida man who stormed the US Capitol on January 6 was sentenced on Friday to three years in prison, the latest in a string of prison sentences for those who participated in the January 6 insurrection.

45-year-old David Moerschel, a neurophysiologist from Punta Gorda, Florida, was convicted in January with three other members of the Oath Keepers, reported the Associated Press.

Several members of the antigovernment extremist group have been charged for their roles in a plot led by several far-right groups to stop Joe Biden from becoming president after the 2020 election results.

In total, nine people associated with the Oath Keepers have been tried with seditious conspiracy, AP reported, including Moerschel.

Six have been convicted on the charge.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has invited Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to speak to Congress during his visit to Washington DC on June 22. Modi will also meet with Joe Biden for a state dinner that night.

In a letter to Modi, McCarthy said that Modi in his address “will have the opportunity to share your vision for India’s future and speak to the global challenges our countries both face”.

It is my honor to invite @PMOIndia@narendramodi to address a Joint Meeting of Congress on Thursday, June 22nd.

This will be an opportunity to celebrate the enduring friendship between the United States and India and speak to the global challenges our countries both face. pic.twitter.com/gu68UjJltG

— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) June 2, 2023

US still faces potential credit downgrade, ratings agency Fitch warns

Joan E Greve

Joan E Greve

Here’s more on how the debt ceiling crisis will impact the US’s credit rating, from the Guardian’s Joan E Greve.

The US is not yet out of the woods on a potential credit downgrade, even though Joe Biden is scheduled to sign the debt ceiling bill tonight to avert a federal default.

Fitch Ratings said this afternoon that it will maintain its “negative watch” on the US rating as the credit rating agency considers “the full implications of the most recent brinkmanship episode and the outlook for medium-term fiscal and debt trajectories”.

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“Reaching an agreement despite heated political partisanship while reducing fiscal deficits modestly over the next two years are positive considerations,” Fitch said in a statement posted to its website.

“However, Fitch believes that repeated political standoffs around the debt-limit and last-minute suspensions before the x-date (when the Treasury’s cash position and extraordinary measures are exhausted) lowers confidence in governance on fiscal and debt matters.”

As a reminder, the US got its first credit downgrade from Standard & Poor’s in 2011 after another protracted fight over the debt ceiling during Barack Obama’s first term.

America was able to avoid default in that episode as well, but the near-miss rattled investors and shook confidence in US debt holdings.

Biden to give Oval Office address on debt ceiling deal

Joe Biden plans to give his first Oval office address on the averted debt ceiling crisis, using a setting typically used by presidents for the most significant events to highlight the bipartisan efforts made to avoid a default.

Biden will be giving his Oval office address at 7pm ET, Reuters reports. His remarks come as Congress passed the controversial agreement on Wednesday.

The deal will increase the country’s debt limit, but comes with new work requirements for federal food assistance. Several progressives including New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, opposed the bill.

Far-right Republicans were also against the deal, saying that it didn’t go far enough to address spending.

“Our work is far from finished, but this agreement is a reminder of what’s possible when we act in the best interests of our country,” said Biden in a written statement earlier on Friday.

Today so far

Here’s a quick summary of what’s happened so far today:

  • The Department of Justice closed its investigation into Mike Pence for his having classified documents in his Indiana home. Pence faces no charges. The closing of the investigation comes as Pence is gearing up to announce a run in the 2024 election.

  • Meanwhile, Republicans are using their power of a House majority by probing the FBI about its investigation into the classified documents Donald Trump had at his Mar-a-Lago home. Republicans are citing the recent report from special counsel John Durham that criticized the FBI for its handling of inquiry as basis for the probe.

  • The US economy added 339,000 jobs in May, much higher than what economists had expected. This makes the future of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, which has shaken the economy, unclear.

  • Joe Biden is set to sign the debt ceiling bill that passed the Senate last night. He will deliver remarks tonight on the bill at 7 pm.

Stay tuned for more live updates.

In a statement marking National Gun Violence Awareness Day, Joe Biden called on Congress to pass gun control legislation, with sharp words against Republicans on their passiveness on the issue.

“A broad majority of Americans want to see commonsense reforms that would curb our gun violence epidemic – like establishing universal background checks, requiring safe storage of firearms, and finally banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines,” he wrote.

“But instead of listening to their constituents, Republicans in Congress continue to do the bidding of the gun lobby. Instead of shielding our kids from gun violence in their classrooms, Republicans in Congress are focused on shielding gun manufacturers from liability.”

The Guardian has confirmed reports that the justice department closed its investigation into the classified documents found at Mike Pence’s home. A Pence spokesperson told the Washington Post that he is “pleased but not surprised” that the investigation has been closed.

Even though the closing of the investigation clears the air for Pence before his likely 2024 announcement next week, Pence faces a crowded field that is largely dominated by Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis.

Though Pence was Trump’s vice-president during his term, Pence has since turned against Trump, testifying against him in front of a federal grand jury in April on efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Meanwhile, Trump has said that Pence did “something wrong” by not standing by him and declaring the election rigged.

Department of Justice closes Mike Pence investigation

The justice department is closing its investigation into classified documents that were found at the home of the former vice-president Mike Pence, CNN is reporting, citing a letter from the justice department.

The FBI “have conducted an investigation into the potential mishandling of classified information”, the letter said. “Based on the results of that investigation, no criminal charges will be sought.”

About a dozen classified documents were found at Pence’s home in Indiana in February by the FBI. A lawyer for Pence disclosed to the agency in January that documents were found at his home after they were “inadvertently boxed and transported” at the end of his term. Pence cooperated with authorities and said that he was unaware the documents were at his home.

The clearing of Pence’s investigation comes right before the former vice-president prepares to launch his 2024 presidential campaign. Sources with the campaign say that he is set to kick off his bid next week in Iowa.

House Republicans looking into FBI investigation into Trump classified documents

House Republicans are looking into the FBI’s investigation into the classified documents that were found in a raid of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home last year.

The House judiciary committee chair, Jim Jordan, a Trump ally, sent a letter yesterday to the attorney general, Merrick Garland, demanding information about the FBI’s involvement in a special counsel investigation into the documents.

“The extent of the FBI’s bias and reckless disregard for truth … is nothing short of scandalous,” Jordan wrote in the letter, citing a separate special counsel investigation from John Durham that criticized the FBI’s handling of the raid. The report, released in May, said that the agency relied on raw and uncorroborated information when conducting the inquiry. It also said the department of justice and FBI did not conspire to investigate Trump’s ties to Russia in 2016, but Republicans are focusing on the report’s criticism of the FBI.

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With their majority in the House, Republicans are now emboldened to prod investigations into the former president. Jordan’s letter shows how Republicans are likely to use Durham’s report to counter the FBI’s investigation into the classified documents.

The US economy added 339,000 jobs in May, far surpassing economists’ forecast for the month, which predicted about 190,000 jobs. This is all despite the fact that the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates to its highest levels in over a decade, in an attempt to cool inflation and gently slow the economy.

In a statement on the jobs numbers, which was released this morning, Joe Biden said that “today is a good day for the American economy and American workers”.

“The Biden economic plan is working. And due to the historic action taken by Congress this week, my economic plan will continue to deliver good jobs for the American people in communities across the country,” Biden said, referring to the debt ceiling bill that he will sign today.

Biden also touted the unemployment rate, which rose 0.3% to 3.7%, but has still been under 4% for the last 16 months, the longest stretch since the 1960s.

Still, the jobs figures hold a bit more complexity for the economy than Biden’s rosy picture paints it out to be. Fed officials have implied an interest rate hike pause could be coming, but it all depends on whether they are satisfied with how much the economy has slowed. And this new jobs report shows that things, in the job market at least, are still hot.

DeSantis still trails Trump in polls despite early flood of cash

Nine Republicans so far have declared their candidacy for the 2024 election, and a handful more will likely announce their runs over the next few weeks, but the election is already shaping out to be a “Ron v Don” battle – and it is still very unclear who will come out on top.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis has behind him a flood of cash from the conservative establishment, who find Donald Trump hard to control and a continued political liability with his various legal troubles. Within the first 24 hours of his official campaign launch, DeSantis raised $8.2m, his campaign says. And this was despite the embarrassing technical issues Twitter was experiencing when he made his announcement on the social media site. Trump, in comparison, raised about $9.5m in the first six weeks after he announced his campaign in November.

Money doesn’t always guarantee a win, but it does mean that DeSantis will have an arsenal to put up his best fight against Trump. Even with the cash, it may be an uphill battle. Trump has been leading DeSantis in the polls by about 30 points. Trump has consistently polled just above 50 points, while DeSantis has been around 20 points. Still, DeSantis is far above any of the other candidates who have announced their campaigns, which includes the former Trump UN ambassador Nikki Haley and the South Carolina senator Tim Scott. Other Republicans who are gearing up for campaign launches include former Trump VP Mike Pence and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie.

Trump and DeSantis trade verbal blows as battle for Republican nomination gathers speed

Good morning, and welcome to the US politics live blog.

With the debt ceiling standoff already in Washington’s rearview mirror – the Senate passed a bill raising the limit until 2025, and Biden is expected to sign the bill today – the spotlight is now on the 2024 Republican primaries.

Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis gave a preview of what is to come over the next year and a half as the 2024 election rolls in. The two Republican candidates held dueling campaign events, one in Iowa and the other in New Hampshire, key states in the primaries.

DeSantis in his speeches has been throwing soft punches at Trump, not mentioning the name of the former president, but instead trying to highlight his youth (DeSantis is 44 while Trump is 76) and saying that he can fully serve two terms unlike some people – who should not be named.

But some sparring happened later in the day when Trump responded to this by saying that he could shape things up in six months, not eight years.

“When he says eight years, every time I hear it, I wince, because I say if it takes eight years to turn this around, then you don’t want him. You don’t want him as your president,” Trump said. “It’ll take me six months to have it totally the way it was, we’ll have it fast.”

Off-stage, DeSantis responded to a reporter’s question on Trump’s comeback with: “Why didn’t he do it in his first four years?”

The dynamic that plays out between the two as the election gets closer will be interesting to watch. DeSantis used to be a staunch Trump supporter, which ultimately helped him build a national profile, making it hard for him to come out of the gate with attacks against him. But DeSantis appears to have much of the Republican establishment behind him, as donations to his campaign are showing. He’s still trailing Trump in the polls, but there’s still a year left to change things.

Stay tuned for more live updates.




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