OPINION:
As is the way with a divided government, some Republicans and Democrats are unhappy with the deal struck by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Biden to avoid a debt default.
Could Republicans have negotiated steeper cuts to government spending? Perhaps. Progressive Democrats are upset the agreement avoids new taxes and places work requirements on able-bodied people up to 54 years of age who collect food stamps.
The GOP didn’t get all it laid out in the Limit, Save, Grow Act — a piece of legislation that called for deep cuts in spending — but passing the bill compelled the White House to start serious negotiations. Mr. Biden backed down from his pledge not to engage Mr. McCarthy; he sat down with the speaker to flesh out a deal.
The “agreement in principle” includes many wins for the American public. It’s a two-year budget deal that will hold government spending flat for 2024 and increase it by 1% for 2025 while raising the nation’s borrowing limit for the same period. It limits top-line federal spending to 1% annual growth for the next six years. Small spending increases were given for veterans affairs and defense.
The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget described it as “the first major deficit-reducing budget agreement in almost a dozen years.”
The 99-page deal also designates “a single lead agency” to develop environmental reviews, with the goal of streamlining the federal permitting process for energy projects. It claws back unspent COVID-19 funding and slashes $400 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Global Health Fund, which sends taxpayer money to China. It nixes funding to the IRS to hire more agents. It most importantly rejects all of Mr. Biden’s $5 trillion in proposed new tax increases, mandates and federal programs.
Congress is expected to vote on the deal on Wednesday, giving members 72 hours to review the text — a far cry from former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s mantra of “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”
Mr. McCarthy said 95% of his caucus is “very excited” about the agreement. On CBS’ “Face the Nation,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said a default would be avoided and predicted the deal would pass the House. He noted that Republicans are committed to producing at least 150 votes, while Democrats would pitch in to produce the 218 members needed for its passage. Centrists on both sides will garner it through the chamber, affording those on the far right and far left the ability to vote against it.
“The agreement represents a compromise, which means not everyone gets what they want,” Mr. Biden said in a statement Sunday. “That’s the responsibility of governing.”
Mr. McCarthy was more bullish, stating that Democrats received no victories in the agreement.
“There isn’t one thing, there’s nothing that they asked [for] that I would let in. … I just kept saying no,” Mr. McCarthy said of the negotiations. He added that work requirements on food stamps had been a “red line” for Democrats but that they ultimately caved.
The speaker did his job. Now it’s time for the Senate to do theirs.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.