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The newly negotiated deal on the debt ceiling has now been officially signed into law, allowing the U.S. to avoid a default on its national debt for the time being.
President Biden, who signed the bill into law on Saturday, addressed the nation on this bill’s success – lauding both the bipartisan nature of the text and the way it prevents default. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) also praised the deal as a money-saving alternative to just raising the debt ceiling again.
To recap, the bill raises the debt ceiling until 2025 and caps growth in the budget that year at 1%. It also aims to keep discretionary spending in the 2024 budget at current levels for everything except defense. Some of the other noteworthy inclusions are expanded work requirements for people to receive welfare benefits and making the executive branch enact needed budget cuts for major expenditures.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill would reduce budget deficits by $1.5 trillion over the next decade. While some breathed a sigh of relief, others had harsher words to say over what was given up in the bill. Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) plainly said Republicans “failed” in garnering a more conservative budget deal.
Before the bill was signed, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), who ran against McCarthy for the speakership role earlier this year, explained a common complaint among conservatives. Appearing on Fox News, Biggs said the bill would reduce money over a decade, but it would coincide with an increasing national debt.
Other Republicans are coming to McCarthy’s defense, however, and painting the bill as a legislative win for the GOP. Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.), who was a part of the negotiations, said the resulting bill contained “the largest savings in any legislation in the history of Congress.”
The GOP-led House figures to move on with prioritized legislation that figures to be less contention among Republicans, but the rift between McCarthy and some of the more conservative Republicans could come up again.