US debt ceiling / The 2024 US election

House Speaker Republican Kevin McCarthy after Monday's debt ceiling talks with President Joe Biden. J. Scott Applewhite / AP  

 

US debt ceiling  

No agreement in place in the US – but a better atmosphere  

 

President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy had nothing new to present after yesterday's renewed negotiations on the debt ceiling, US media reports. The atmosphere, on the other hand, is described as decent between the parties after the talks.  

 

- I think we are still reaching the goal. I think we can work it out, McCarthy said at a press conference afterward, writes Politico.  

 

Biden called the negotiations "productive" in a statement.  

 

- We reiterated that suspension of payments is not on the map and that the only way forward is to produce a cross-party agreement in good faith, the president said according to Bloomberg.  

 

Politico notes that a deal must be in place by this week for it to be dealt with by both chambers.  

 

Tim Scott. Mic Smith / AP  

 

The 2024 US election  

Scott challenges Trump - the "positive Republican"  

 

Senator Tim Scott enters the fight to become the Republican candidate in the US election next year. According to the New York Times, it is done with a "positive and ambitious" message and as a clear alternative to both Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. The news agency Axios briefly calls him "the optimistic Republican" in a headline. 

 

- Our party and our country face a choice: to be a victim or to win, he said at a campaign meeting on Monday in front of a cheering audience, according to the New York Times. 

 

- I choose freedom and hope and opportunities.  

 

Scott, who is the only black Republican in the Senate, has long been seen as a rising star within the party. But according to the NYT, it is unclear how well his message of hope and inclusion resonates among former Trump voters "who are angry and demand revenge".  

 

Both Ron DeSantis and ex-governor Chris Christie are expected to announce in the coming days that they are running as candidates.

Austin Dennard (one of the women who sued Texas after being denied an abortion despite serious pregnancy complications), DeSantis, Trump. TT  

 

America's abortion policy 

"DeSantis is too extreme" - bat Trump gives away? 

 

It is no secret that the Democrats will use the abortion issue to try to portray the Republicans as extremists before the US presidential election next year, writes Wall Street Journal columnist William McGurn in an opinion piece. But Donald Trump also seems to use the argument against rival Ron DeSantis, who is expected to settle with the ex-president for the Republican nomination. 

 

If Trump wins the nomination, it may cause pro-life advocates not to support him, reasons McGurn. And if DeSantis wins, the Democrats get a free bat from Trump: "Even Trump agrees that DeSantis is too extreme on abortion.

 

" CNN's Richard Galant also believes Trump may have trouble winning pro-life votes if he remains vague about where he stands on the abortion issue. Although he seems proud to have contributed to the Supreme Court abolishing the constitutional right to abortion, he refuses to take a stand for a national abortion ban, writes Galant. 

 

In the New York Times, columnist Michelle Goldberg sheds light on the situation in Texas. She raises the fate of 13 women as an argument that the abortion opponents' narrative does not hold.  

 

The women have sued the state after enduring "medical nightmares" when they encountered complications during their pregnancies but were still denied abortions. According to Goldberg, the women describe how the doctors misinterpreted the law - and that it should also be in the interest of abortion opponents to eliminate that possibility.