Republicans are raging at Speaker Kevin McCarthy for writing a “blank check to the Democrats” after details of the 99-page bill were released Sunday, raising the debt ceiling to $35 trillion.
‘Conservatives are sold out again!’ complained Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.
After several conversations with President Joe Biden over the past week, McCarthy revealed a deal he praised for lacking “one thing” for the Democrats. Now both the Democratic president and the Republican president are trying to win over skeptical lawmakers.
The bill, if passed and signed, would suspend the country’s debt limit until 2025 to avoid federal bankruptcy — but it’s unclear if that will happen before June 5, the date Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the U.S. unable to meet its debt obligations.
The framework includes provisions to fund medical care for veterans, provide environmental assessments for energy projects, and improve work requirements for people to receive government assistance, such as food stamps.
In addition, McCarthy said on Sunday that if the bill passes, the student loan repayment pause would end 60 days after Biden signs it into law.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy unveiled 99-page bill raising debt ceiling to prevent US from defaulting
Some hardline conservatives worry that the compromise won’t reduce future deficits enough, while progressives are concerned about some of the proposed changes to job requirements in social programs.
Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy called the agreement a “turd sandwich,” and South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman called it “insanity.”
DailyMail.com explains what has come in and what has been cut on the debt ceiling deal and how lawmakers are reacting now that the full text is available.
SUSPENSION OF DEBT LIMIT FOR TWO YEARS
The cornerstone of the deal includes a two-year suspension of the debt limit, meaning virtually unlimited spending over the last two years of Biden’s presidency.
“There isn’t ‘one thing’ for Dems,” tweeted Senator Ted Cruz, claiming Speaker McCarthy was “right” to say so. “There are $4 trillion things — a blank check — for Democrats.”
“Plus 87,000 things: new IRS agents to harass Americans,” he added. “All in exchange for scrapping virtually ALL of the House cuts.”
The agreement limits spending by keeping all non-defense credits about the same in fiscal year 2024 and increasing them by just 1 percent the following year.
As for the debt limit, however, it remains suspended until January 2025, which would extend beyond the next presidential election.
Congress is also required under the new bill to pass 12 annual spending bills or face a fallback to the previous year’s spending limits.
The White House predicts that the plan would cut government spending by $1 trillion.
“Fake conservatives agree to fake cuts,” Senator Paul tweeted. “Deal will increase mandatory spending by ~5%, increase military spending by ~3% and maintain current non-military discretionary spending at post-COVID levels.”
“There are no real cuts to be seen here.”
Rep. Norman said he will not “vote to bankrupt our country.”
McCarthy and Biden spoke several times to reach a last-hour deal after a months-long deadlock — the package must be signed before June 5 to avoid default. Pictured: McCarthy and Biden shake hands during the President’s State of the Union Address to Congress on Feb. 7, 2023
INCREASED REQUIREMENTS FOR GOVERNMENT AID RECIPIENTS
The biggest thing to watch out for on the Democratic side is opposition to improving the job requirements for Americans to receive government assistance, such as food stamps.
Progressives, such as Rep. Pramilia Jayapal, are already complaining that Biden has even opened the door to increasing the burden on struggling Americans.
The Washington congressman warned in an interview on Sunday that Democratic leaders “should be concerned” about whether progressive lawmakers will support the bill because of this provision.
The McCarthy and Biden debt ceiling agreement meets a long-standing Republican priority of expanding work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — even though the changes are a watered-down version of what conservatives really want.
While there are already work requirements for most able-bodied adults between the ages of 18 and 49, the bill raises the age limit to 54, but has an expiration date and would reduce the age to 49 by 2030.
The agreement would also make it harder for states to waive work requirements for SNAP by lowering the number of state-level exemptions allowed each month.
Democrats also won some new expanded benefits for veterans, the homeless and youth aging out of foster care. According to the agreement, that too would expire in 2030.
The agreement would also make changes to the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program, which provides cash assistance to families with children. While not going as far as the House bill proposed, the deal would make adjustments to a credit that allows states to require fewer recipients to work, update and readjust the credit to make it harder for states to avoid it .
STUDENT LOAN PAYMENTS ARE RESUMED
Another thing the Democrats could oppose the whole deal is the resumption of student loan payments.
Since March 2020, Americans with federal student loans have paused their payments due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with accrued interest reduced to 0 percent.
In addition to delaying student loan repayments, President Biden has also sought to impose a forgiveness plan to forgive between $10,000 and $20,000 for those with outstanding federal student loans.
This fell short of the debt ceiling package, and instead Biden agreed to end the more than three-year pause in loan repayments and resume repayments in late August.
The proposal for widespread forgiveness is currently in the Supreme Court — and the fate of the president’s plan will be known next month with a decision by the 6-3 majority conservative panel.
Progressives have complained that canceling just a portion of student loans doesn’t go far enough, and have called for Biden to wipe out all federal higher education debt.
Conservatives are not happy with the deal. Republican Senator Ted Cruz claimed McCarthy essentially wrote “a blank check” to Democrats
Senator Rand Paul tweeted that ‘conservatives are selling out again’
South Carolina Representative Ralph Norman called the deal “madness” and said he will not vote to approve the package
CUT IRS FUNDING BUT 87,000 NEW AGENTS REMAIN
Republicans are not happy with the spending bill passed last year to massively increase the money for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) — and especially the portion allocated for hiring tens of thousands of additional agents to audit U.S. taxes and collect taxes. combat fraud.
In the debt ceiling deal, McCarthy targeted money allocated to the IRS by cutting $21 billion from the $80 billion.
However, many members of McCarthy’s party say the bill doesn’t go far enough, as Senator Cruz complains that the package still allows for the hiring of an additional 87,000 officers.
RECOVERY OF NON-SPENDING COVID FUNDS
Money allocated but not used for COVID-related relief will be withdrawn by the agreement.
There is $30 billion in unused coronavirus relief funds that have been approved by Congress for programs such as rent assistance, business loans and expanding broadband to rural areas that were never mandated.
While this is a win for the Republicans, they ideally wanted to take back $50 billion in remaining funds.
McCarthy’s deal with Biden allows Congress to reclaim those funds, but also protects pandemic money for veterans’ medical care, housing assistance and about $5 billion for a program aimed at developing the next generation of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.