Here are some of the reported details of the new debt limit deal between Biden and McCarthy.
More on that:
(Mother Jones) President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said this weekend that they had reached a deal in principle to raise the debt ceiling, but as of Sunday afternoon, lawmakers were still waiting to see the text of the deal to be voted on. The agreement reportedly includes a debt ceiling extension through 2025—sparing the country a repeat of the financial brinkmanship of recent weeks—and contains some spending cuts. Those reportedly include cutting $10 billion from an $80-billion overhaul of the Internal Revenue Service approved last fall. The deal is expected to cut federal spending by about $650 billion over the next decade.
Further Extract:
The bad news is that, despite the deal between McCarthy and Biden, the drama is far from over: McCarthy’s grip on the GOP members of the House is notoriously weak. (Recall the 15 tries it took to get him elected, and the humiliating concessions he had to make to secure the job). The House is scheduled to vote on the deal Wednesday; it remains unclear if McCarthy will have the votes he needs, or face a revolt from the more extreme members of the GOP caucus, who had are demanding much steeper budget cuts.
According to early reports, the major points of the deal are:
• The debt ceiling won’t have to be dealt with again until 2025, after the next presidential election.
• Some federal spending would be capped, with spending next year holding roughly steady, and an increase of no more than 1 percent in 2025.
• Spending on defense, Social Security and Medicaid is excluded from any caps—which also prevents the reductions in savings from being particularly dramatic as those are some of the largest areas of federal spending.
• The IRS will have $10 billion cut from its major overhaul, despite that agency experts say the funds are necessary to get it functioning again.
• $60 billion in unspent COVID relief money will be clawed back.
• Work requirements will be imposed on recipients of federal food stamp and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs.
Read more here:
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... -details/
caltrek’s comment: Nothing demonstrates the hypocrisy of the Republicans arguing that they are genuinely concerned with the debt then the actions taken to gut the IRS. That will likely cost far more in lost revenue than it will save in expenditures on the IRS. The real aim is to minimize taxes on the rich, thus shifting costs to the middle class and below.
Don't mourn, organize.
-Joe Hill
