(NewsNation) — President Joe Biden on Friday will address the debt ceiling deal that he negotiated with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy that sailed through Congress with bipartisan support.
The deal will suspend the debt limit for two years, while also putting in new work requirements for older Americans receiving food assistance. It also boosts funding for veterans and defense and approves a natural gas pipeline going from West Virginia to Virginia. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the plan cuts the deficit by $1.5 trillion over the next decade.
Biden is expected to speak at 7 p.m. EDT from the East Coast. NewsNation will livestream the address here.
The House passed the debt ceiling bill with more than 300 supporting votes, most of which came from Democrats.
But some progressive Democrats and independents are not celebrating.
In a tweet, U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., asserted that “The debt deal only serves to hurt poor and working people who will bear the brunt of cruel extreme cuts to programs that help families make ends meet.”
In the Senate, Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said the bill would make it easier for fossil fuel companies to “pollute and destroy the planet by fast-tracking the disastrous Mountain Valley Pipeline.”
Biden has argued his main legislative accomplishments are largely intact and some have championed the bipartisan nature of the deal.
“We’re a divided government right now, and what this is, is an honorable compromise,” White House senior adviser Gene Sperling said.
Biden got another boost Friday as the Labor Department reported that the economy had added 339,000 jobs in May. The unemployment rate, however, did tick up to 3.7%, though that is still trending near historic lows.
