WASHINGTON, D.C. – The debt ceiling drama is far from over. The House is voting on the deal President Biden and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R- CA) agreed on.
We are monitoring if this bill will pass. A handful of republicans have said they will not vote for it because it doesn’t cut enough spending. But other republicans, including democrats, don’t want the country to default so we might see some democratic support to get this bill through the House and onto the Senate.
We’re hearing from leaders in the Senate and their opinions on this legislation. Senate democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D- NY) and Senate republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R- KY) both are eager to finalize this legislation as soon as possible. Both sides said they see some ‘wins’ in the legislation. Schumer said the bill keeps America from defaulting and keeps important investments like social security and Medicare intact. McConnell is praising Speaker McCarthy for the legislation especially on reducing the non-defense discretionary spending and changes to some permitting reforms that are in the bill.
“So we’ve gone from one party spending $2.7 trillion in two years to a discussion about actually reducing government spending,” said Sen. McConnell. “So I think the American people’s decision to change the house is already yielded benefits for our country.”
“Any needless delay, any last-minute brinkmanship at this point would be an unacceptable risk,” said Sen. Schumer. “Nobody on either side thinks this agreement is perfect, that’s for sure. Nobody got everything they wanted.”
Both sides differ on what they’re not supportive of in the bill but for the most part, leaders are hoping the House will pass that legislation without any hiccups and send it over to the Senate. We also caught up with Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow (D- MI). Part of the debt ceiling agreement includes clawing back tens of billions in unspent COVID relief dollars. She said those funds are very important and prefers that was not part of the agreement.
“All of these things have an impact on people in a way that are harmful to people the question is how much harm,” said Sen. Stabenow. “So in the end we protected social security, Medicare and Medicaid and veterans benefits. We mitigated the harm that would come from SNAP work requirements, we made sure that the infrastructure bill, the CHIPS funding, all things about building our economy were intact.”
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said congress has until June fifth to pass legislation on the debt ceiling and get the president to sign it. If we don’t make that deadline, Yellen stresses that we could face a recession.
