With just a few days left before the United States is expected to hit the debt ceiling and run out of money to pay the state’s bills, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and President Biden They made a deal to comment debt limitCongress is expected to vote as soon as this week.
The text of the law has not yet been released, but according to the outline, here is what the agreement includes:
Debt ceiling suspension
Under the deal, the debt limit It will be suspended until the first quarter of 2025, after the 2024 elections. Instead of lifting debt ceiling By a certain dollar amount, the suspension would allow Congress to set a period of time before debt limit You will need to process again. Taking this approach ensures that it cannot be used for political gain during campaigns. He leaves the next battle over the debt ceiling to the new administration and Congress shortly after the 2024 election.
spending ceilings
Republicans originally sought a 10-year spending cap at fiscal 2022 levels and have called for deep cuts to non-defense domestic spending. The White House has proposed keeping spending at fiscal 2023 levels for two years.
The deal does not return spending to 2022 levels and instead keeps non-defense spending flat, with current levels for 2023 for 2024. There are no budget limits after 2025 – only spending targets. For 2025, the agreement allows for a small increase in non-defense spending of about 1%.
Energy permit reform
The White House and McCarthy’s negotiating team have agreed to overhaul the country’s permitting laws, an issue long championed by moderate Democrats such as Senator Joe Manchin.
This provision aims to streamline the environmental audit process, designating a single lead agency to be charged with environmental audits that comply with a clear and public timeline. The energy permitting changes are expected to speed up the time it takes to approve new projects, which environmentalists have opposed.
Republicans are touting the change of deal as the first significant reform of the National Environmental Policy Act since 1982.
Unspent COVID money
Unspent COVID relief money would be refunded in the deal, a proposal put forward by Republicans and accepted by the White House. COVID Public Health Emergency It officially ended In early May.
The exact amount available is not clear, but the Congressional Budget Office has estimated it at about $30 billion.
Work requirements
Republicans have sought to tighten and add work requirements for healthy adults without minor dependents who apply for benefits and benefits, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid. The White House backed off.
The deal does not add a work requirement for Medicaid.
Currently, people who qualify for SNAP have no work requirement after the age of 50. The deal would raise that age to 54. At the same time, SNAP would see temporary changes that eliminate work requirements for veterans and those experiencing homelessness, regardless of age.
IRS cuts
Republicans wanted to cut about $71 billion in IRS funding over the next decade, and pass legislation to do so upon securing a majority in the House, including the same cut in the debt ceiling law that the GOP passed in the House last month. They were targeting tens of thousands of new ACA-funded agents, and even She campaigned during the midterm elections On cutting additional IRS funding, which was intended to modernize the IRS and improve enforcement against fraud on higher income taxes.
Republicans told midterm voters that Biden and Democrats planned to send in an army of 87,000 IRS agents to audit Americans every day, to dig deeper into their pockets to pay for unfunded liberal programs, such as student loan forgiveness.
according to French Rep. Hill, R-Arkansas, appearing on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” the day after the deal was announced, the agreement “will stop the first year of a 10-year increase in the IRS budget.” He continued that this would be “nearly $2 billion in spending stalled out of the $80 billion that was to be spent over 10 years to hire IRS agents.”
Medicare for veterans
The agreement fully funds Medicare for veterans, including the Toxic Exposure Fund, at fiscal year 2024 levels requested by the President, which are an increase from current levels. That was an important issue for Mr. Biden, who linked his late son Beau’s toxic burns to his cancer diagnosis.
What was rejected:
Repeal climate-related provisions from the Inflation Reduction Act
The agreement makes no changes to the clean energy and climate provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, such as clean energy projects in low-income communities. The Republicans wanted to overturn key provisions of the IRA.
new taxes
There are no new tax increases in the deal, which was proposed by Biden and rejected by Republicans.
Cancellation of Biden’s student debt relief
Republicans demanded that Mr. Biden Student debt relief It gets cancelled, but the bill leaves it where it is.
Scott MacFarlane, Ellis Kim, Nicole Killion and Zack Hudak contributed to this report.
Catherine Watson
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