In his first public address from the Oval Office last night, President Joe Biden praised House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for the debt-ceiling agreement Congress successfully passed earlier in the week.

During his remarks, Biden said, "I want to commend Speaker McCarthy. You know, he and I and our teams were able to get along and get things done."

"We were straightforward with one another, completely honest with one another, respectful of one another. Both sides operated in good faith, both sides kept their word," he said. 

The president also leveraged the debt-ceiling agreement he brokered as a pitch for his 2024 presidential reelection campaign. The deal marks the latest instance in which Biden has surpassed expectations, including the Democrats' performance in the previous November's midterm elections, during which they secured an additional seat in the Senate and lost the House by a slim margin, reports Bloomberg.

During his Oval Office address, Biden listed the agreement among his legislative accomplishments. The president also enumerated many of the electoral pledges he had followed through on, including sealing special interest loopholes for the affluent, the oil sector, cryptocurrency investors and others.

“Republicans defended every single one of these special interest loopholes. Every single one. But I’m going to be coming back and with your help I’m going to win,” Biden said.

Also Read: Treasury Has Just $88B Left To Avoid A Debt Cap

Biden also revisited themes from his 2020 presidential campaign, including unity, bipartisanship and democracy. 

Although the president is expected to sign the debt-ceiling bill into law on Saturday, experts say that the deal risks brinkmanship. 

“There has been a steady deterioration in governance over the last 15 years, with increased political polarization and partisanship as witnessed by the contested 2020 election, repeated brinkmanship over the debt limit and failure to tackle fiscal challenges,” Fitch Ratings said in a statement, according to Bloomberg.

Michael Gapen, an economist for Bank of America, also warned in a note to clients that partisan divisions leave open the risk of a U.S. government shutdown later this year despite the spending guideposts enshrined in the debt-limit deal, Bloomberg reported. 

“While one brinkmanship risk has been removed from the table, one remains,” Gapen wrote.

Now Read: Down To The Wire: How The Senate's Debt Ceiling Vote Could Play Out

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