Louisiana lawmakers have been informed that they have additional surplus funds available to spend on this year’s budget, after the state’s Revenue Estimating Conference recognised an additional $323m for the current budget and a further $400m, which can be spent on next year's budget. The Senators want to breach the state’s expenditure cap to spend money primarily on infrastructure, whereas the House are more conservative, wishing to reduce debt burdens. With just three weeks left of Louisiana’s 2023 legislative session, lawmakers must reach an agreement and pass a budget before adjourning on 8 June.
A new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research has found that two-thirds of US adults are concerned about the economic impact if the US defaults on its loans as a result of lawmakers failing to agree on an increase in the debt limit. Six in 10 respondents said they wanted any increase to be tied to agreed-upon terms to reduce the budget deficit, with the poll showing a lack of support for both President Joe Biden and congressional negotiators. About two in 10 respondents said they understood the issue very well and 4 in 10 said they understood it somewhat well.
US Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, has warned that the US is in danger of running out of money to pay its bills come June 1st, since the US Congress has not raised or suspended the nation’s current $31.381tn debt ceiling. US President Joe Biden and congressional Republicans continue to negotiate with a growing sense of urgency as his return to the US on May 21st approaches. Congress has raised or suspended the country’s debt ceiling over 100 times; however, polarisation in US politics has made the deadlock less unusual than in previous events.
Negotiations between the White House and House Republicans over raising the borrowing limit came to a standstill heading into a weekend during which US President Joe Biden was attending a meeting of global leaders in Japan. The sides face a deadline as soon as 1 June to raise the spending limit, with Republicans demanding spending cuts the Democrats oppose. Talks briefly resumed on Saturday morning only to be interrupted later in the day. The market soured as negotiations hit pause, with experts warning that even the threat of a debt default could spark a recession.
President Joe Biden and Republican leaders are struggling to reach an agreement to increase the nation’s debt limit, a decision that is quickly approaching. The Republican party is demanding sweeping spending cuts, a move that the Democrats have deemed too severe. However, the two parties have until 1 June to come to a decision before the country is at risk of a catastrophic federal default. Any bargains must gain the approval of both the Republicans and Democrats before they come into force. Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, warned on Friday that such failure would plunge the country into "a Republican-made disaster," destroying the economy.
Estonia and Latvia are set to begin negotiations with Diehl Defence to purchase a medium-range air defence system, which includes additional capabilities in infrastructure, personnel, training and equipment. The cost of the Iris-T SLM air defence system will be determined at the negotiations, and they could be concluded during the summer. The agreement is part of a drive to ensure operational medium-range air defence capabilities for Estonia by 2025. Last year, Estonia and Latvia joined 14 European NATO partners to sign a letter of intent to share resources to procure air defence systems.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is urging a last-minute agreement to protect Ukraine's enormous Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as a counteroffensive is planned, which could see forces driven directly through the station. After nearly nine months of failed efforts to establish a protection zone around the plant between Ukraine and Russia, Rafael Grossi, the head of the IAEA, is pushing for a proposal to reduce the possibility of a catastrophic nuclear disaster. He intends to present five set principles for the UN Security Council to endorse later this month, however obtaining agreement among the council’s permanent members is a tall task given the acidic relations between Moscow and Washington coupled with Kyiv’s reluctance to let Russia broker any deal other than its complete withdrawal from Enerhodar, the city where the power station is based, and surrendering the plant. Negotiations on Grossi’s plan are ongoing. A senior European diplomat has said the chances for an agreement and the briefing to go ahead are “50-50”.
