Global Courant 2023-04-20 04:11:17
The Republican leader has introduced a proposal to cut government spending while raising the federal debt limit.
US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has unveiled a bill that would tie $4.5 trillion in spending cuts to a $1.5 trillion increase in the federal debt limit.
The newly unveiled plan outlines McCarthy’s opening stance in what is likely to be a tense partisan discussion over government borrowing. Here’s a recap of what was released on Wednesday:
Raising the debt ceiling
McCarthy’s bill would suspend the country’s borrowing limit, currently $31.4 trillion, until March 31, 2024 or until it is raised by another $1.5 trillion — whichever comes first.
At that point, Congress should revisit the issue as the 2024 presidential campaign gets underway.
Restriction of expenses
The plan would reduce the amount of spending that Congress approves annually to the $1.47 trillion approved in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30. It would also limit spending growth to 1 percent per year over the next 10 years.
Those limits would effectively serve as austerity measures, as they would not keep up with projected inflation and population growth.
Within that figure, lawmakers would still have to figure out how much to spend on the Pentagon and on domestic agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, a perpetually partisan focal point.
Congress passed similar spending caps in 2011 during another debt-ceiling deadlock, though it often failed to comply in subsequent years.
The limits do not apply to benefit programs such as Social Security and Medicare, which are expected to grow dramatically as the population ages.
Reclaim unused COVID-19 funds
The plan would cancel the remaining $5.2 trillion dollars that Congress has approved between 2020 and 2022 to fight COVID-19. According to the White House, the remaining money was less than $80 billion in January and is probably lower now.
Most of that money is earmarked for troubled union pension funds, veterans’ health care and medical research.
End student debt relief
McCarthy’s proposal would scrap Democratic President Joe Biden’s attempt to cancel about $400 billion in student debt, which Republicans have portrayed as unfair to those who haven’t gone to college or have already paid off their debts.
The Supreme Court is expected to decide before July whether that plan is legal.
Cut IRS funding
The plan aims to withdraw an $80 billion investment plan for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which the IRS will use to hire more employees and deploy new technology.
But the impartial Congressional Budget Office predicts the new IRS funding will generate about $204 billion from increased enforcement.
Abolish green tax incentives
It would repeal incentives for renewable energy, electric vehicles and other climate-friendly technology that Democrats passed last year as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Tighten work requirements
The plan would tighten job requirements for participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program, which provides cash for groceries to low-income earners.
More control over regulations
It would give Congress more power to review new rules proposed by the executive, potentially giving Republicans more power to block environmental and workplace regulations, among others, that they deem harmful.
More incentives for oil and gas
McCarthy’s package includes a sweeping fossil fuel bill that passed the Republican-controlled House in March but stalled in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
The bill aims to bolster oil and gas production by cutting relations, promoting energy development on federal lands and eliminating Democratic-backed climate incentives.
