All articles tagged with #debt limit
A proposed $5 trillion increase in the debt limit, combined with nearly $4 trillion in tax cuts, signals a shift in Republican fiscal stance, as they prepare to pass the measure through reconciliation with only party votes, challenging their traditional fiscal conservatism.
The Senate Republicans released a bill proposing significant Medicaid cuts, permanent tax cuts from 2017, and adjustments to energy and child tax credits, while also raising the debt limit by $5 trillion, amidst ongoing negotiations and resistance from some senators and House members.
Senate Republicans released a bill proposing significant tax cuts, including extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and creating new breaks, while offsetting costs through Medicaid reductions and energy credit cuts. The bill also raises the debt ceiling by $5 trillion and faces internal disagreements over Medicaid and SALT deductions, with a goal to pass before July 4.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that despite cost-cutting at the IRS, tax revenues in April and May exceeded last year's figures, easing concerns about the debt ceiling and potentially delaying the need for urgent congressional action. The government’s financial outlook has improved, with the estimated X-date pushed back to late summer, and discussions ongoing about budget legislation and negotiations involving foreign countries and the debt ceiling.
House Republicans proposed a series of tax cuts, including deep cuts for companies and the affluent, leading to charges of hypocrisy by Democrats. Republicans believe tax cuts for businesses and the affluent are the primary driver for sustaining economic growth, while Democrats seek more targeted tax cuts to achieve social goals such as reducing child poverty and shifting to renewable energy. The dispute sets the stage for the 2024 elections and the immediate economic challenges that the winners will face.
House Republicans proposed tax cuts for companies and the affluent, while President Joe Biden and fellow Democrats seek more targeted tax cuts to achieve social goals such as reducing child poverty and shifting to renewable energy that can help the economy in the long run. The Republican tax cuts for businesses, coupled with an increase in the standard deduction for households, would be funded by wiping out $216 billion in tax breaks over 10 years that Biden signed into law last year to support the development of electric vehicles and renewable energy. The dispute sets the stage for the 2024 elections and the immediate economic challenges that the winners will face.
House Republicans are pushing for spending levels below those agreed to in the debt limit compromise, infuriating Democrats and raising the prospect of a government shutdown this year and automatic spending cuts in early 2025. Far-right Republicans are demanding cuts that go far deeper than what President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy agreed to in the bipartisan compromise they reached last month to suspend the debt ceiling, but such reductions are all but certain to be nonstarters in the Senate. The looming stalemate threatens to further complicate a process that was already going to be extraordinarily difficult, as top members of Congress try for the first time in years to pass individual spending bills to fund all parts of the government in an orderly fashion and avoid the usual year-end pileup.
House Republicans who caused a legislative stalemate earlier this week want written assurances from Speaker Kevin McCarthy that conservatives will get more of a say in what the chamber does after their trust in him had been "shattered" over the debt limit bill, according to Rep. Ben Cline. Members of the hard line-right House Freedom Caucus and their allies tanked a procedural vote on the rules for a set of Republican-backed bills on Tuesday. It was the first time in two decades that a rules vote had failed.
Members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus staged a protest vote against Speaker Kevin McCarthy's fiscal compromise with President Biden to suspend the debt limit, effectively shutting down the House floor for several hours. The move reflects the bitter acrimony lingering in the Republican ranks after the passage of the debt limit measure last week and underscores McCarthy's lack of control over his fractious conference. The protest vote weakened McCarthy substantially, undercutting his ability to pass bills in a chamber where they can normally afford to lose no more than a handful of votes.
House conservatives, including members of the Trump-aligned House Freedom Caucus, staged a surprise protest on Tuesday, voting against moving forward on a bill they support, which disrupted the party’s plans to pass legislation protecting gas stoves from potential government bans. The move was unexpected by senior Republicans, and some GOP lawmakers fear it might be just the beginning of a conservative drive to undercut Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s team unless he keeps promises he made in order to win the House’s top gavel in January.
Office of Management and Budget director Shalanda Young said that bringing the US to the brink of default was bad for the country and the global economy. Though Congress was able to reach a deal to raise the debt limit ahead of the June 5 "X-date," Fitch Ratings, the international credit rating agency, said that "repeated political standoffs" over the federal government's borrowing limit "lowers confidence in governance on fiscal and debt matters." The end result was not a victory for Democrats or Republicans, but "a reasonable bipartisan agreement you would expect to see in [a] divided government."
President Joe Biden is framing his potential 2024 re-election campaign as a referendum on competence and governance, highlighting his approach of pragmatism over Trumpian pugilism. His recent bipartisan debt limit and budget legislation agreement with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other Republicans exemplifies this approach. However, his low approval rating among Democrats and concerns about his age as the oldest person to ever seek the presidency may pose challenges. Despite criticisms from some in his own party, the White House sees the agreement as a success that protects Biden's priorities and gives them "running room" through the 2024 election.
President Joe Biden signed a bill suspending the US government's $31.4tn debt ceiling, avoiding a first-ever default with just two days to spare. The House of Representatives and the Senate passed the legislation this week after Biden and House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached an agreement following tense negotiations. The Treasury Department had warned it would be unable to pay all its bills on Monday if Congress had failed to act by then. The bill signing marked a low-key, symbolic end to a crisis that vexed Washington for months, forced Biden to cut short an international trip in Asia and threatened to push the United States to the brink of an unprecedented economic crisis.
President Biden's first major address from the Oval Office was a purely political stunt that insulted the American people's intelligence. He bragged about averting an economic crisis, but after pushing through three massive spending bills, he forced the country to raise the debt limit. Biden bamboozled networks into carrying his stump speech, which included a plan to increase funding for IRS enforcement, meaning everyone faces a greater chance of being dinged for not paying enough. There was no news made, and it was an unserious address by an unserious man in serious times.
Ohio Senator J.D. Vance was the only lawmaker from the state to vote against a bipartisan agreement to raise the US debt limit, which now heads to President Joe Biden's desk. The deal suspends the debt limit until Jan. 2, 2025, and includes spending cuts, but Vance argued it didn't go far enough to rein in government spending. The package faced opposition from both conservatives and liberal Democrats, but Ohio's other senator, Sherrod Brown, supported it. The legislation increases SNAP's age limit for work requirements on adults without dependents from 49 to 54, but also enables more people to get food assistance without work.