New York : After long negotiations, US President Joe Biden reached a preliminary agreement to solve the debt ceiling crisis

US President Joe Biden reached a preliminary agreement with Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives to raise the US debt ceiling and avoid default, which threatened to have catastrophic consequences.

US President Joe Biden has reached a preliminary agreement with Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives to raise the US debt ceiling and avoid default, according to US media.

Biden welcomed reaching an initial agreement, describing it as an "important step forward", and that it represents a consensus, but nevertheless preserves the most important priorities of the Democrats.

"The agreement represents a consensus, which means not everyone gets what they want," Biden said in a statement, adding: "This is the responsibility of governance."

This agreement came after long and intense negotiations between the two parties, and warnings of catastrophic consequences if agreement was not reached before the deadline set by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, on June 5.

The challenge was to get Congress, the Republican and Democratic Senate, to vote quickly to raise the public debt ceiling, in order for the United States to avoid default, an unprecedented situation with potentially devastating economic, financial and social repercussions.

This parliamentary maneuver was usually a formality for the two parties, but this time the Republicans demanded a reduction in public spending in exchange for their agreement to raise the debt ceiling.

On January 19, the United States exceeded the debt ceiling set by $ 31.4 trillion, while it is forbidden to exceed it without approval from the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

The debt ceiling is the maximum total amount of money the federal government is allowed to borrow through the US Treasury, such as bonds and savings bonds.

The reason for this borrowing is to meet the financial obligations of the US government, because the United States suffers from a budget deficit, so it has to borrow huge sums to pay its bills.