WASHINGTON (NEWSnet/AP) — President Joe Biden is expected to sign legislation on Saturday to raise the federal debt ceiling, mere days before the U.S. Treasury warned the country would struggle to pay its bills.

The bipartisan measure, which was approved this week by the House and Senate, eliminates the potential for an unprecedented government default.

“Passing this budget agreement was critical. The stakes could not have been higher," Biden said from the Oval Office on Friday evening. “Nothing would have been more catastrophic,” he said, than defaulting on the country's debt.

The agreement was led by Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, giving Republicans some of their demanded federal spending cuts but holding the line on major Democratic priorities. It raises the debt limit until 2025 — after the 2024 presidential election — and gives legislators budget targets for the next two years in hopes of assuring fiscal stability as the political season heats up.

“No one got everything they wanted but the American people got what they needed,” Biden said. “We averted an economic crisis and an economic collapse.”

Biden had remained quiet publicly during negotiations, a decision that frustrated some but was intended to give space for both sides to reach a deal and for lawmakers to vote it to his desk.

Biden praised McCarthy and his negotiators for operating in good faith, and congressional leaders for ensuring swift passage of the legislation.

More Democrats backed the legislation than Republicans in both chambers, but both parties were critical to its passage. The Senate vote was 63-36; the House vote was 314-117.

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