US President Joe Biden and House Republican speaker Kevin McCarthy appear to close in on a deal, raising the government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling for two years.
What is the Complete News?
Biden and McCarthy appear to make a deal on the US debt ceiling as default looms.
While holding non-defense discretionary spending, the deal would also increase funding for discretionary spending on the military. According to the officials, the White House is planning to boost funding at the Internal Revenue Service to target wealthy Americans.
A US official made a statement that the IRS funding is an open issue. But the main push is making sure that the agency executes the president’s priorities even if there is a small funding present.
According to someone familiar with the debt ceiling talks, the deal between Biden and McCarthy would specify the total amount the government could spend on discretionary programs, such as education and housing.
Another source said both the parties are just $70 billion apart on a total figure of $1 trillion. Here parties are representing Biden and McCarthy.
Virtual Meeting
On Thursday, both parties had a virtual meeting. In the meeting, Republicans decided to back off plans of increasing military spending while cutting non-defense spending. However, Biden is still disagreeing on where the cuts should fall.
He said he doesn’t believe the burden should fall back on middle-class and working-class Americans. On Thursday evening, McCarthy said both parties hadn’t concluded; he knew it would not be easy.
However, the House of Representatives controlled by Republicans and Senate controlled by Democrats have to pass an agreement. But it will not be an easy task as some right-wing Republicans, along with Democrats, were upset by the compromise.
McCarthy said he doesn’t think everybody would be happy at the end of the day; that’s not how the system works. On Thursday afternoon, lawmakers were told to be ready to vote if a deal is done.
According to the Democratic Representative Mark Takano, Biden resisted Republicans’ work requirements for anti-poverty programs and loosen oil and gas drilling projects.
During Thursday’s meeting, Democrats focussed on what they said would be devastating cuts in federal aid for veterans, from housing assistance and food aid to healthcare. Wally Adeyemo, Deputy Treasury Secretary, stated that the government’s interest cost is pushed up by $80 million through debt ceiling.
In this case, lawmakers have to raise the self-imposed debt limit to cover the cost of spending.
Three Days to Vote
Before voting, lawmakers will be given three days to read the debt ceiling bill completely. However, McCarthy made a statement that the deal must cut discretionary spending and cap spending to slow the growth of US debt.
On the other hand, Republican Representative Chip Roy said the deal must include the sharp spending cuts. Some Democrats said Biden is not speaking enough about the downsides of Republicans’ spending cuts while McCarthy is talking to the reporters multiple times regarding this.
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