Posted on 05/31/23
| News Source: The Hill
The House on Wednesday night passed a bipartisan bill to suspend the debt ceiling, overcoming vocal opposition from conservative and liberal lawmakers and bringing the country one step closer to avoiding an economy-rattling default ahead of next week’s deadline.
The legislation — which was crafted through negotiations between President Biden, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and their designees — cleared the chamber in a bipartisan 314-117 vote and now heads to the Senate, where leaders are hoping for swift consideration as the default deadline looms.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that the U.S. could run out of cash to pay its bills by June 5, a situation that would plunge the country into its first-ever default — which economists and administration officials have warned would be catastrophic for the economy.
The bill suspends the debt limit through Jan. 1, 2025, while also implementing a slew of cost-cutting measures including new spending caps over the next two years and a clawback of billions of dollars of unspent COVID-19 funds. It also includes permitting reform, puts an end date on Biden’s pause on student loan repayments and beefs up work requirements for federal assistance programs.
Wednesday’s vote marked a victory for McCarthy, who led his conference in passing a sweeping debt limit bill in April, got Biden to the negotiating table after the president for months insisted on a “clean” debt ceiling increase, and succeeded in narrowing those talks to just him, the president and their appointed deputies. McCarthy’s deputies then extracted concessions from the White House, refused proposals like increasing taxes and worked furiously to sell the ultimate agreement to his conference.