BREAKING: Debt Ceiling Deal Reached by Biden, McCarthy - Agreement in Principle
Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) have come to a deal on the debt ceiling negotiations.
The news is that they intend to lift the debt ceiling and apply new caps on spending.
McCarthy said there would be “historic reductions in spending…no new taxes, no new government programs.”
He said they still had more work to do to finish the writing of it, but that it was an agreement “worthy of the American people.”
The Hill noted that some of the things they had been tussling over were “spending levels, new work requirements for social benefit programs. and permitting reforms to expedite approval of energy infrastructure projects — two Republican demands that were opposed by most Democrats.”
Now, it still remains to be seen if they will have the votes and it is something that Republicans will buy into.
The proposal still faces tall barriers to passage, particularly in the House, where conservatives wasted no time hammering the compromise as a capitulation by McCarthy to Biden — one they say has undermined the deficit reduction goals of Republicans going into the talks. They’re vowing to oppose the measure when it hits the floor. [….]
The agreement drew immediate howls from both sides of the aisle, with liberals protesting that the spending cuts are too sharp and conservatives objecting that they’re not sharp enough.
We’ll have to see what they come out with, and if they have the votes to bring it through.
The conservatives are pointing to one major point of contention: The debt ceiling hike in their legislation was capped at $1.5 trillion, while the deal McCarthy cut with Biden was expected to be nearly three times that figure.
“Unacceptable,” the Freedom Caucus tweeted.
Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) took the criticisms a long step further, saying a debt ceiling increase of that size would prompt “war” between conservatives and leadership.
“If [the] Speaker’s negotiators bring back in substance a clean debt limit increase … one so large that it even protects Biden from the issue in the presidential …, it’s war,” Bishop tweeted.
But McCarthy is claiming victory.
Despite the conservative criticisms, Republicans clearly won the debate in one important sense: Unlike debt ceiling fights in the past — when GOP leaders demanded spending cuts but conceded tax hikes to Democrats in return — McCarthy drew a red line on new revenues early in the process, focusing the deficit reduction effort squarely on only the spending side of the budget equation in what amounts to a major victory for Republicans.
As this is a breaking story, RedState will provide further details when they become available.
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