The agreement on the US public debt seems imminent.
After the direct face-to-face between President Joe Biden and the top Republican representative in Congress, Kevin McCarthy, the negotiators of the two parties are currently tightening negotiations to avoid the hypothesis of default.
The timing is tight: according to the Treasury Department led by Janet Yellen, from June 1 the United States may be in a position not to honor its debt. A hypothesis that makes Washington tremble, but also that part of the world that refers to the dollar and the American economy for its financial stability.
The theoretical perspective alone led several rating agencies to lower ratings of the reliability of US coffers – and interest costs rose by $80 million in just a few days.
According to journalistic sources, therefore, there is already a draft agreement on the table - a draft still to be filed, but on which the political agreement would be almost concluded.
After all, an agreement is necessary, because the Republicans control the House and the Democrats control the Senate.
The draft agreement would provide for the raising of the ceiling on public debt - which is established by law - to 31 thousand and 400 billion dollars for two years.
In return, Republicans (who have always advocated cuts in social spending) are demanding a decent cut in the White House's plans to fund welfare projects – such as housing, health and education – and an increase in military spending instead.
According to anonymous sources, the distances have shortened and the two sides would be divided at the moment by just 70 billion dollars.
President Biden himself, however, keeps the point: "I don't think all the weight (of the agreement, ed) should fall on the shoulders of the middle class and the working class."
Even signing an agreement may not be decisive, however.
When it comes to the parliamentary vote, given that in the two chambers the majorities are very thin, it will be necessary to take into account any frank shooters, positioned on the most radical fringes of both sides: far-right Republicans and more "liberal" Democrats have already made it known that they are not at all happy with the compromise that is emerging.