House Speaker Kevin McCarthy won success in his push to force the White House to negotiate before a deadline to prevent a default by passing a package to raise the debt ceiling and cut trillions in government spending.
The Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023 was approved by the House by a vote of 217 to 215, with all but four Republicans voting in favor.
Debt ceiling bill with massive spending cuts
Reps. Ken Buck of Colorado, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, and Matt Gaetz of Florida were the Republicans who voted against the bill.
Democrats did not support it being passed.
The bill would reduce spending by $4.5 trillion while raising the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion or until the end of March 2024, whichever comes first.
The bill’s significant budget cuts may affect millions of Americans financially if it were to somehow become law.
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Impact on millions of Americans’ finances
There is a lot of disagreement on how the bill would affect Social Security. According to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), his proposal has no impact on Social Security and makes no specific reference to it.
However, Social Security supporters claim that if defense and veterans’ programs are exempted, the bill’s provision that restores discretionary spending to fiscal year 2022 levels will result in a 23% reduction in spending for all federal programs.
The group Social Security Works said in a different email that if the measure is passed, it will require SSA to close field offices, cut hours, and lay off thousands of workers.
American claimants will find it far more difficult as a result to receive their due payments.
Social Security users’ bank accounts could suffer from a delay in processing payouts and applications since they need the money right away.
This was one of the issues that US Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), a member of the Appropriations Committee, received in a letter from SSA Acting Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi on March 17.
Restoring funding to FY 2022 levels, according to Kijakazi’s letter, would lead to increased wait periods for benefits.
Millions of borrowers who anticipated debt relief would not receive it under the House version, which would immediately repeal Biden’s plan for student loan forgiveness.
Even if the GOP debt ceiling plan is not enacted, it may become moot since legal objections to the plan could invalidate it.
The GOP proposal would increase the age threshold for working in order to qualify for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food aid from 50 to 56. (SNAP).
Benefits for SNAP recipients in the impacted age range who are unable to work would be scaled back or eliminated.
The bill would also stop financing for the IRS’s plans to modernize its technology and expand its workforce.
Given the difficulties the organization already faces in processing returns and responding to customer support queries, a drastic reduction in employees might cause refund wait times to increase.
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