WASHINGTON, D.C. – A deal on the debt ceiling has been agreed on by President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R- CA). Now it’s up to the House and Senate to pass the legislation before June fifth.
“We’ve got good news,” said President Biden following an announcement that he and McCarthy have reached an agreement on the debt ceiling. “Now we’re ready to move to the full congress.”
They agreed to keep a two-year suspension of the debt ceiling, which caps the total amount of money the government is allowed to borrow. The suspension will hold off this next fight about the nation’s debt until 2025 which is after the next presidential election.
For non-defense spending, it would essentially remain the same except for a one percent increase between FY 2024 and FY 2025 after certain adjustments to the appropriations were made, including rescinding 30 billion in unobligated COVID relief funding and shifting 20 billion in IRS funding to other non-defense areas.
One of the biggest changes involves expanding work requirements for certain adults getting food stamps. The legislation would impose new work requirements for food stamps on adults ages 50 to 54 who don’t have kids living in their home. Currently, the work requirements only apply to people ages 18 to 49. The age limit will be phased in over three years. But the bill would exempt veterans, homeless people and people who were children in foster care from food stamp work requirements.
In all, Both sides are calling it a win.
“No one thought at any given day that we would be where we are today,” said Speaker McCarthy. “The president said he wouldn’t negotiate with us for 97 days, he wouldn’t even allow us to talk when we passed the bill, but it wasn’t until the final two weeks that we would really be able to sit down and communicate with one another. At the end of the day, people can look together to be able to pass this in the House and Senate together to sign it and send it to the president.”
A House committee will take up this legislation and debate about it. We expect the House to vote on this by Wednesday. Until then, Biden and McCarthy are trying to make sure there’s enough votes in their party to get this moved through congress and onto the president’s desk before the June fifth deadline.
