Debt ceiling news – live: Biden signs debt limit bill after hailing deal in Oval Office address
Bill passed after senators rejected 11 proposed amendments
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox
Get our free Inside Washington email
President Joe Biden has signed a bill to raise the national debt limit two days before the default deadline.
The White House announced the signing in a statement on Saturday afternoon, hours after Mr Biden spoke to the nation on Friday evening from the Oval Office and welcomed the bill’s bipartisan passage.
The Senate on Thursday passed a bipartisan agreement forged by Mr Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to raise the $31.4 trillion US debt ceiling after the deal survived a Republican rebellion in the House of Representatives.
The narrowness of the Fiscal Responsibility Act’s passage through the House was made possible through the support of Democrats, who stepped in to thwart a conservative revolt that badly undermined Speaker McCarthy’s claims to control his increasingly divided party.
Full congressional approval was required before Monday 5 June, when the Treasury Department was expected to run out of funds to pay its debts for the first time in American history, triggering likely economic chaos.
Work requirements for food stamps
One of the GOP’s efforts to stem the tide of federal spending is centred around the issue of providing food assistance to low-income families. The new legislation is set to expand work requirements for the SNAP programme from the current age cap of 49 to a new cap of 54, meaning that Americans within that age bracket will have to prove employment to receive benefits.
The issue may seem oddly specific for Republicans to hold up America’s ability to pay its debts upon, but tightening the restrictions fo federal assistance has long been a target of the GOP, and originally the party wanted to expand those work requirements to Medicaid as well.
The new work requirements will sunset in 2030, unless extended before then by a GOP Congress.
IRS funding halted
The other specific ask that Republicans managed to secure in their compromise with the White House was a halt, at least in part, to a plan to fund new hiring initiatives at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), America’s tax collection agency.
The beleaguered agency was set to receive more funding for agents that the federal government said were to assist taxpayers with filing issues and shore up the IRS’s capabilities; Republicans painted the issue instead as an effort to hire an army of IRS auditors to go after taxpayers for suspected fraud, a non-starter for the party that has long sought, particularly among its conservative wing, to diminish the power and capabilities of both the IRS and other federal agencies.
But some conservatives are already complaining that the cuts aren’t enough. Congressman Chip Roy exclaimed angrily after the deal was announced that “98 per cent” of the funding for the expansion of the IRS’s services would still go through.
Covid aid
The deal has one more minor win for Republicans — a provision to return Covid aid funding that has yet to be appropriated. Millions of dollars in this aid still remain unspent by the federal government, though Democrats have used it thus far to fund a number of federal health programmes which they warn could face cuts if the aid is rolled back entirely.
Why are some lawmakers angry about the debt ceiling deal?
The House of Representatives has voted to raise the debt limit, thereby ensuring the United States will avoid defaulting on its debt, despite vocal opposition from many Republicans in the House majority.
There was also disquiet amongst many Democrats.
Eric Garcia explains why.
Progressives and conservatives complain as Biden-McCarthy debt deal passes
More Democrats vote to raise the debt limit than Republicans as the bill heads to the Senate
Despite fierce opposition, Lauren Boebert didn’t turn up to vote on debt ceiling deal
MAGA firebrand Lauren Boebert emerged as one of the fiercest critics to the debt ceiling deal brokered by House leader Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden to avoid a catastrophic default.
But when it was time for the House of Representatives to cast their votes on Wednesday night, she failed to show up.
Bevan Hurley has the story.
Boebert didn’t turn up to vote on debt ceiling deal she furiously campaigned against
GOP Congresswoman tweeted or retweeted her opposition to the deal 23 times in the past week, then failed to show for Wednesday night’s vote. ‘Is anyone surprised?’ wrote one Democratic critic
Full story: Senate passes debt limit bill after marathon 11 amendment votes to avoid default
The Senate voted late on Thursday night to raise the debt limit and avoid allowing the United States to default on its debt for the first time in history after having an all-night marathon session of votes to assuage Republican concerns.
The legislation passed 63 to 36 after senators held 11 votes on amendments —10 from Republicans and 1 from Democrats — to address concerns about the bill.
Eric Garcia reports for The Independent from Capitol Hill.
Senate passes debt limit bill after marathon 11 amendment votes to avoid default
The bill goes to President Joe Biden’s desk before the United States would default on its debt
Biden will address budget, debt agreement from Oval Office Friday evening
President Joe Biden planned to discuss the contentious, just-passed budget deal in a speech to the nation Friday night, ready to sign the agreement averting the country’s first-ever government default, which would have sent shock waves through the US and global economies.
The measure was approved late Thursday night after passing the House in yet another late session the night before.
Read more...
Deal approved, Biden will address budget, debt agreement from Oval Office Friday evening
President Joe Biden will speak Friday evening from the Oval Office as he addresses the nation on the budget deal that lifts the federal debt limit
Biden statement on May jobs report: 13 million jobs created since taking office
The White House released the following statement from President Joe Biden on the May jobs report:
Today is a good day for the American economy and American workers. We learned this morning that the economy created 339,000 jobs last month. We have now created over 13 million jobs since I took office. That is more jobs in 28 months than any President has created in an entire 4-year term. We also learned that the unemployment rate has been under 4 per cent for 16 months in a row. The last time our nation had such a long stretch of low unemployment was in the 1960s. And the share of working-age Americans in the workforce is at its highest level in 16 years. Meanwhile, the annual inflation rate has fallen for 10 months in a row, and it’s down more than 40 percent since last summer. During that time, take-home pay for workers has gone up, even after accounting for inflation. In short, the Biden economic plan is working. And due to the historic action taken by Congress this week, my economic plan will continue to deliver good jobs for the American people in communities throughout the country. I look forward to signing the bipartisan budget agreement into law. The agreement protects our historic and hard-earned economic recovery, and all the progress that American workers have made in the last two years. And it protects key priorities and accomplishments from the last two years. Our work is far from finished, but this agreement is a reminder of what’s possible when we act in the best interests of our country.
Underestimated McCarthy emerges from debt deal empowered as speaker
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is nothing if not a political survivor.
Underestimated from the start, the Republican who cruised around his California hometown of Bakersfield and stumbled into a career in Congress was never taken too seriously by the Washington establishment.
With overwhelming House passage of the debt ceiling and budget deal he negotiated with President Joe Biden, the emergent speaker proved the naysayers and eye-rollers otherwise. A relentless force, he pushed a reluctant White House to the negotiating table and delivered the votes from his balky House GOP majority to seal the deal.
Underestimated McCarthy emerges from debt deal empowered as speaker, still threatened by far right
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is nothing if not a political survivor
Debt ceiling deal aside, Fitch still has negative ratings watch for US
The ratings agency cited the “steady deterioration in governance over the last 15 years”.
Ouch.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies