The bill by McCarthy would slash federal spending

The CMB will have to wait until 2024 to solve the puzzle: McCarthy’s proposal for the looming debt limit would slash federal spending

McCarthy released a framework to increase the debt limit while cutting federal spending.

The debt limit will be raised by a factor of 1.5 trillion or until March 31 of 2024 if the proposal is approved.

McCarthy stated on the House floor that limited government spending will reduce inflation and restore fiscal discipline in Washington. “If Washington wants to spend more, it will have to come together and find savings elsewhere — just like every single household in America.”

McCarthy, whose remarks echoed a speech he gave at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, said the plan would also repeal key parts of Democrats’ signature legislative package — the Inflation Reduction Act — as well as President Biden’s program to cancel college student debt, which is currently tied up in courts.

Republicans propose to target the Internal Revenue Service’s budget of $80 billion in a bid to improve it. House Republicans voted to undo the legislation, even though it would not have passed in the Senate. The allocation of $80 billion for the IRS over the next decade is thought to increase revenues and contribute to the deficit by the Congressional Budget Office.

McCarthy has said that he’s confident that the GOP will support his legislation when it comes to the floor. McCarthy has only himself to blame because he needs to pass the legislation without Democratic support in order to save his conference.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/04/19/1170887856/mccarthys-bill-for-the-looming-debit-limit-would-slash-federal-spending

Dem Demographers and Speakers in Debt Ceiling Negotiations: Implications for Medicare, Social Security, and Other Programs that aren’t Driven by the Spending Cuts

He noted Medicare and Social Security — two programs that have broad public support but are also major drivers of spending — would not be impacted by the cuts.

“Our plan ensures adults without dependents earn a paycheck and learn new skills,” he said. “By restoring these commonsense measures, we can help more Americans earn a paycheck, learn new skills, reduce childhood poverty and rebuild the workforce.”

Democrats remain critical of any efforts to link debt ceiling negotiations to legislation that would require work requirements for those on assistance programs.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is pitching changes to the federal food stamp program that would increase the number of people who have to show they’re working to be eligible to receive help with their groceries.

Speaker McCarthy and his colleagues include radical proposals as part of debt limit negotiations to ensure their failure, he said.

McCarthy decried the president for not meeting him to negotiate. The pair haven’t met in months but still don’t agree over how to address the debt limit.

“President Biden has a choice: Come to the table and stop playing partisan political games, or cover his ears, refuse to negotiate and risk bumbling his way into the first default in our nation’s history,” McCarthy said.

Biden has repeatedly said he wants to sign a clean debt limit bill. Schumer has said that efforts to tackle the spending cuts aren’t a precondition for avoiding default.

The McCarthy Proposal: Why We Are Not Here to Take Food Out of the Elements of the Poor and the Optimally Disabled

For people who are not dependents and who are capable, there are work requirements for being able to get Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps.

“It’s pretty foreseeable that this is going to lead to more food hardship,” said Ellen Vollinger, SNAP director for the Food Research and Action Center. “It doesn’t do anything to improve people’s employability. … It is going to remove food from people who are unable to meet documented requirements.

During any period of 36 months, adults who are not employed or in a training program for at least 20 hours a week cannot receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.

Both the unemployed and underemployed are hit by it. The amount of work a person needs to document is often much greater than the amount of hours they actually work. There are some lower wage jobs where the work schedules can be pretty unpredictable. They do not always have work hours as businesses cut back.

While the House Committee on Agriculture Chair GT Thompson, R-Pa., called the McCarthy proposal “sensible,” the panel’s ranking member David Scott, D-Ga., called it ” a non-starter” and “ungodly.”

“Unfortunately, some Republicans want to take food out of the mouths of vulnerable children and families to pay for irresponsible tax cuts for the wealthiest among us,” said Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee. That should be a cause of alarm to all Americans. The United States’ full faith and credit is not a bargaining chip.