Here’s a short thread from Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post spelling it out in a nutshell:
What’s in this supposedly commonsense bill McCarthy is demanding in exchange for not destroying the global economy?
Here’s my handy guide, for those interested in the substance of the legislation and not just political gamesmanship.1. Unspecified across-the-board cuts to nondefense discretionary spending, down by one-third on average in 2024, after inflation. The cuts would then expand to roughly 59%, on average, by 2033
Does this mean WIC? Border security? Pells? FBI? No one knowshttps://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/25/mccarthy-national-debt-limit-budget/
2. Defund the tax police – make it harder for IRS to collect taxes legally owed by wealthy/corporate tax cheats, and set back the agency’s other IT upgrades.
(Would also increase deficits)https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/20/gop-defund-irs-debt-limit/
3. Medicaid work requirements – which sound nice, but are a solution in search of a problem. See Arkansas’s disastrous experiment, which did not boost employment but did cause a lot of poor working people to lose their healthcare.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/27/medicaid-work-requirements-healthcare/
4. Provision to grind entire regulatory system to a halt, by requiring Congress’s approval for all major regs. That includes deregulatory action too btw
Congress can barely do the things it’s responsible for now. Like, say, paying our existing billshttps://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/05/16/congress-debt-limit-regulation-reins-act/
Here’s a separate thread on what happens if Republicans don’t get their way, and instead force a default.
Originally tweeted by Catherine Rampell (@crampell) on May 16, 2023.
What would “meeting in the middle” actually mean? Only 20% cuts in all discretionary spending across the board and maybe bringing the regulatory system to a partial stop? Even if that was acceptable to anyone with a brain, which it isn’t, the wingnuts won’t accept it. They are irrational. They have been told by their God Donald Trump that default is just ‘a perception” and maybe it would be good for the country!
There are three possibilities in my view. Biden gives them every last thing they want and more. Kevin McCarthy decides to fall on his sword for the good of the country and brings something to the floor over the Freedom Caucus’ objections — and loses his seat.
There’s actually a fourth possibility and that’s that they follow the 2013 model and the Treasury Dept. moves the drop dead dates back, they do some extensions with a lot of back and forth and they end up passing a clean debt ceiling next year some time because the Republican approvals are in the dirt and they’re running for re-election. Is that likely? I don’t know. But hope is not a plan…