Press Review of the Americas

In the News: In the United States, "no winner" after the agreement on the debt ceiling

By an overwhelming majority, representatives voted in favor of the agreement that will allow the federal government to borrow to pay its debts in exchange for a decrease in budget spending, on June 1, 2023 in Washington. © AP/Jose Luis Magana

Text by: Aabla Jounaïdi Follow

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In the United States, a bipartisan agreement was finally reached last night on the debt ceiling. By a large majority. But the disgruntled are making their voices heard. 71 Republicans and 46 Democrats voted against the bill, each with its own reasons. "Their numbers, however, never threatened the adoption of the text," says the newspaper The Hill. And this thanks to "an assembly of moderate elected representatives from both camps, who despite reservations, have given their support to the measure," summarizes the daily. For others, especially the most extreme Republicans, "it's a bad deal," as Texas Congressman Chip Roy put it in the same newspaper.

For his part, Republican negotiator Kevin McCarthy touts a deal that will make the country "the greatest budget savings ever." In fact, "no one got everything they wanted" after that vote, as the Washington Post summarizes. The "Liberal Democrats opposed to the text deplore the reduction in spending and the red tape that will be required from some recipients of food aid," the newspaper explains. Some Republicans have exposed the fractures of their political family, concludes the daily.

Classified documents

Donald Trump would have taken classified documents with him after leaving the White House, and knowingly. In an audio recording obtained by the court, and which dates from the summer of 2021, he would be heard evoking a Pentagon document on a possible attack by Iran. Revelations made by CNN. In this recording, which the media did not have directly, but whose content was confirmed by several of its sources, Donald Trump would be heard suggesting to his interlocutors that he "would like to share information with them, but that he can not do it". In other words, the former president knew he was in possession of classified documents. A bomb.

Is it a document drafted by former Chief of Staff Mark Milley? No, the sources tell CNN. His lawyers interviewed by the channel continue to maintain that Donald Trump did not know that he had classified documents. But for the Washington Post, "it also raises the question of whether the former president still has other documents in his Florida residence," especially since a hundred other pieces have already been found at his home in recent months, recalls the newspaper.

20 millimeters of rain

It is an extraordinary drought, unheard of in more than forty years in Uruguay. And the population mobilized again yesterday to demand accountability from the government for the lack of drinking water.

At the call of several unions, they were still several thousand, as last week, in the streets of Montevideo, the capital. "We will have to take concrete measures, especially for certain categories of the population," warns Federico Kreimerman, president of the Federation of civil servants of the OSE, the public water operator, interviewed by the media Subrayado. The demonstrators are also demanding transparency, and to know the true extent of the crisis. Have they been heard? According to the news channel La Diaria, which has collected the confidences of an official of the Ministry of Environment, "the rains of last week will not be enough to compensate for the water deficit and the government is monitoring the situation to take possible measures.

But the problem is that "it takes a significant and continuous rain," says a meteorologist interviewed by Subrayado. However, by the end of the week, no more than 20 millimetres of rain are expected around Montevideo. A difficult scenario is emerging: the use of even more salt water, from the Rio de la Plata, with the health consequences to be feared. On the side of the Uruguayan presidency, they are working on the idea of "punishing those who abuse water", believes the newspaper El País, without further details. Meanwhile, the electric operator UTE will reserve 60,000 liters of treated water for hospitals, reports the newspaper.

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