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☆ What's in the debt limit bill? Key provisions in the Biden-McCarthy deal to avert default
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Sahil Kapur | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

In fiscal year 2024, it would limit military spending to $886 billion and nonmilitary discretionary spending to $704 billion. McCarthy said the deal was "historic," as it would amount to "cutting spending year-over-year for the first time in over a decade." Factoring in adjustments, the White House projects that when veterans funding is set aside, nondefense spending would barely change — with a slight reduction overall from 2023 to 2024. It would eliminate $1.4 billion in IRS funding and shift about $20 billion to nondefense funds. The bill would overhaul the National Environmental Policy Act to streamline permitting for projects; House Republicans tout it as "the first significant reforms to NEPA since 1982."

☆ What’s in the Bipartisan Debt Limit Agreement
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Jim Tankersley | Alan Rappeport | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The bill also claws back about $30 billion in unspent money from a previous Covid relief bill signed by Mr. Biden, which had been a top Republican priority entering negotiations. Congress must fill them in by passing a raft of spending bills later this year. The agreement between Mr. Biden and Mr. McCarthy attempts to prod Congress to pass all its spending bills and avoid a shutdown, by threatening to reduce spending that is important to both parties. What’s not in the billThe final agreement includes far less reduction in future debt than either side proposed. Mr. Biden wanted to raise taxes on corporations and high earners, and to take new steps to reduce Medicare’s spending on prescription drugs.

☆ Breakingviews: Biden gives little, gets less in debt ceiling deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Ben Winck | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

WASHINGTON, May 28 (Reuters Breakingviews) - For President Joe Biden, a debt-ceiling victory comes with a bittersweet taste. The White House and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy reached a tentative deal for lifting the government’s borrowing limit on Saturday night. After months of negotiation, Biden and McCarthy reached an agreement just nine days before U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the country was expected to run out of cash. The deal lifts the debt ceiling about $4 trillion from its current level of $31.4 trillion, extending the government’s borrowing power for two more years. Follow @BenWinck on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSThe Biden administration and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy reached an agreement in principle on May 27 for raising the U.S. government’s debt ceiling.

☆ Biden and McCarthy reach debt ceiling deal, avoiding national default
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The White House and House of Representatives have reached an agreement in debt ceiling talks. Representatives for the White House and Rep. McCarthy did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. The GOP, spearheaded by McCarthy, has insisted that a debt ceiling raise should be tied to advancing their party's priorities through spending cuts. Republican proposals in the debt ceiling negotiations included banning student-loan forgiveness, bolstering work requirements on welfare programs, and rescinding unspent pandemic funding, Insider previously reported. Since its introduction in 1917, the debt ceiling has been raised dozens of times to avoid such outcomes, Insider previously reported.

☆ Here’s what’s in the debt ceiling deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Tami Luhby | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Here’s what we know about the deal, based on a fact sheet circulated by House Republicans and a source familiar with the negotiations. Raises the debt ceiling: The agreement would increase the debt limit for two years. The House GOP fact sheet says veterans’ medical care would be fully funded. The GOP fact sheet says it would apply to those up to age 55. Work requirements would not be introduced in Medicaid, which House Republicans had called for in their debt ceiling bill.

According to a person familiar with the agreement, it also would impose new work requirements for some recipients of government aid, including food stamps and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. It would place new limits on how long certain recipients of food stamps — people under the age of 54, who do not have children — could benefit from the program. The work requirements and the environmental review reforms were among the last details the two sides worked out on Saturday. Economists and Wall Street analysts warned that a default would be devastating and potentially lead to a global economic meltdown. To avert a default, the House and the Senate must pass the deal and send it to Mr. Biden for his signature.

☆ White House and Republicans reach a tentative deal to avoid U.S. default
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Christina Wilkie | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

WASHINGTON — House Republicans reached a tentative deal with the White House on Saturday night to raise the nation's borrowing limit and avoid a catastrophic default on U.S. sovereign debt. "I expect to finish the writing of the bill, checking with the White House and speaking to the president again tomorrow afternoon," said the California Republican, "Then posting the text of it tomorrow, and then be voting on it on Wednesday." The White House has invited all House Democrats to attend a virtual briefing on Sunday afternoon, presumably to explain what is in the deal and urge Democrats to vote for it. Nonetheless, many Republicans have come to view the biennial vote to raise the debt limit as an opportunity to extract concessions from Democrats in exchange for their votes to avoid a debt default. Unless the debt limit were raised in time and the government was allowed to borrow more, "Our projected resources would be inadequate to satisfy all of these obligations."

☆ Janet Yellen isn't 'credible' and the US won't default on its debt on June 1, Republican congressman says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Ethan Dodd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Congress can't raise the debt ceiling and avoid economic crisis because Republicans want spending cuts. Janet Yellen said Treasury may not be able to delay a default past June 1. To avoid a default, Congress has to raise the debt ceiling, and Republicans won't do it unless Democrats agree to spending cuts. Janet Yellen was wrong on having interest rates too low for far too long. Asked about his alternative date, Donalds said, "Listen, I'm not the Treasury Secretary.

☆ A GOP lawmaker says debt ceiling negotiations are on 'pause' because of 'unreasonable' requests from the White House — even with a catastrophic default as soon as 2 weeks away
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

GOP Rep. Garret Graves told reporters that debt ceiling negotiations are on "pause." He said the White House is bringing "unreasonable" requests. Still, there's a major time crunch for Congress to reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling before a default. But it's unclear where the negotiations will go from here — when asked if talks will resume today, White House negotiators told reporters that they're "playing [it] by ear." It is past time for the White House to get serious.

☆ Reaction to Biden-McCarthy debt ceiling meeting
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

"There was an overwhelming consensus, I think, in today's meeting with the congressional leaders, that defaulting on the debt is simply not an option. We've got to find a way that we can curb our spending, raise our debt limit and also grow our economy. The president agreed to appoint a couple of people from his administration to sit down and negotiate directly with my team." NEIL BRADLEY, CHIEF POLICY OFFICER, U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE"With just two weeks to go before hitting the debt limit, we are pleased to see the scope and structure of the negotiations narrow. We believe there is a path forward on a bipartisan deal that lifts the debt limit and makes important reforms to improve our nation's fiscal health."

☆ AOC says Biden choosing to compromise with the GOP on a debt ceiling deal would be 'profoundly destructive,' and the White House should 'expect pushback on nearly any significant concession'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Biden is set to meet with top lawmakers on Tuesday to discuss a potential debt ceiling agreement. McCarthy passed a bill in the House that would raise the debt ceiling through March of next year, and it was accompanied by over $4.5 trillion in spending cuts. Even so, some progressive lawmakers have warned the president that he should not bend on Democratic priorities to raise the debt ceiling. Multiple reports have suggested that the White House was considering compromising on rescinding unspent pandemic funding and energy permitting reform in a debt ceiling deal. Democrats – including President Biden – have been clear: these dangerous proposals are not going anywhere.

☆ Live Updates: Biden, Congressional Leaders to Meet on Debt Limit
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Zolan Kanno-Youngs | Catie Edmondson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +7 min

President Biden and his allies said the White House and congressional teams had productive talks in recent days. The government reached the $31.4 trillion debt limit on Jan. 19, and the Treasury Department has been using accounting maneuvers to keep paying its bills. The president is scheduled to depart for Japan on Wednesday to attend the Group of 7 meeting, heightening the sense of urgency to make progress on the debt limit. While Mr. McCarthy played down progress, Mr. Biden and his allies said the White House and congressional teams had productive talks in recent days. “SNAP already has work requirements,” said Senator John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, referring to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

☆ Debt-ceiling talks are more theater than substance
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Ben Winck | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

U.S. President Joe Biden will meet with congressional leaders including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday to attempt to make progress on talks to raise the debt ceiling. The two efforts would raise $33 billion over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office estimated last month. Biden also signaled openness to a two-year limit on government spending, Roll Call reported last week, which would raise an estimated $331 billion. loadingComing to terms on these pieces likely means both sides agree to raise the debt limit and push a new budget through. Failure to raise the debt ceiling could leave the government unable to pay its bills and trigger a historic sovereign default.

☆ Biden and McCarthy Set for More Talks as Debt Limit Deadline Nears
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Zolan Kanno-Youngs | Catie Edmondson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“I don’t think we’re in a good place,” Mr. McCarthy said. Mr. McCarthy said on Monday that he wanted to negotiate some of the key provisions of the bill to raise the debt limit that House Republicans passed last month. Mr. Biden is also scheduled to leave for Japan on Wednesday to attend the Group of 7 meeting, heightening the sense of urgency to make progress on the debt limit. While Mr. McCarthy played down progress, Mr. Biden and his allies said the White House and congressional teams have had productive talks in recent days. “We welcome a bipartisan debate about our nation’s fiscal future,” Mr. Schumer said on Monday.

☆ 'Severe hardship to American families' is inching closer and closer as Congress fails to find a debt ceiling solution, Janet Yellen warns
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Janet Yellen reminded Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday that the US could default on its debt in early June. If the debt ceiling is not raised by then, Americans could experience "severe hardship," Yellen warned. In a new letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Yellen reiterated that the country might run out of money to pay its debts as soon as June 1 if Congress doesn't step in. And, right now, with Democrats and Republicans still squabbling over how to approach a debt ceiling increase, Congress is running out of time to avert a crisis. The Washington Post reported on Monday, for example, that GOP staff refused the White House's request to close tax loopholes in debt ceiling talks.

☆ Biden Expresses Optimism Over Debt Limit Deal, but an Agreement Remains Elusive
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Zolan Kanno-Youngs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden and congressional leaders will resume face-to-face talks on Tuesday to avert a government default, with the White House expressing cautious optimism as the contours of a possible deal began to come into focus. With time running out to strike a deal to raise the debt limit, broad areas of negotiation have emerged, including fixed caps on federal spending, reclaiming unspent funds designated for the Covid-19 emergency, stiffer work requirements for federal benefits and expedited permitting rules for energy projects. “I remain optimistic because I’m a congenital optimist,” Mr. Biden told reporters on Sunday in Rehoboth Beach, Del. He added, “I really think there’s a desire on their part, as well as ours, to reach an agreement, and I think we’ll be able to do it.”Still, on Monday, Speaker Kevin McCarthy said the two sides remained “far apart.”The Treasury Department has warned that the United States could be unable to pay its bills by June 1 if it does not raise the debt limit, which caps how much money the country can borrow. That $31.4 trillion limit was hit on Jan. 19, and the Treasury Department has been using accounting maneuvers to keep paying America’s bills.

☆ JD Vance defends Trump's comments that Republicans should let the US default, saying the former president was giving 'political advice' and doing 'fundamentally the right thing'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sen. JD Vance defended Trump's comments to Axios, saying he was just giving "political advice." "I say to the Republicans out there, congressmen and senators, if they don't give you massive cuts you are going to have to do a default," Trump said. Sen. JD Vance argued that Trump was just trying to help his party. Vance told Axios that "what the president is doing is really giving political advice ... not financial advice." GOP Sen. Josh Hawley, for example, told Axios that he disagreed with Trump's comments and that "there is no world in which [a default] happens."

☆ The government's main budget experts confirmed that the US could risk economic catastrophe as soon as early June
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected the US could run out of money in early June. That projection tracks with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's warnings on when the US could default. Congress can step in and prevent the crisis, but so far Republicans and Democrats are still sparring. So far, though, Congress seems to be running up the clock as Republicans and Democrats spar over how to avert a preventable catastrophe. The top lawmakers were expected to meet with Biden again on Friday to discuss the debt ceiling, but the meeting was reportedly postponed to give staffers more time to chat on potential areas of compromise.

☆ Biden, McCarthy divided over debt ceiling but talks continue
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Steve Holland | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Biden, McCarthy and the three other top congressional leaders were set to meet again on Friday. And he did not rule out eventually invoking the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, an untested approach that would seek to declare the debt limit unconstitutional. U.S. President Joe Biden hosts debt limit talks with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, May 9, 2023. Biden would agree to a separate discussion on the budget but not tied to the debt ceiling, the White House said. Stalemate in Washington over raising the U.S. debt limit raises the risk of fresh turmoil for markets.

Like its peers, private equity firm Apollo was hit by a slump in dealmaking in the quarter that made it challenging to cash out of its private equity holdings for top dollar. Its asset management and retirement businesses, however, helped it cushion the blow. Apollo said its adjusted net income fell to $845 million from $917 million a year earlier. That resulted in adjusted net income per share of $1.42, lower than the average analyst forecast of $1.47, according to Refinitiv data. By contrast, private equity funds of Blackstone, Carlyle and KKR appreciated by 2.8%, 1%, and 2%, respectively.

Congress is sparring again over raising the debt ceiling, and time is running out to avoid a default. Here's what the debt ceiling is and why it's so dangerous for the US economy. If that sounds familiar, you already know a fair deal about the "debt ceiling." The debt ceiling was introduced in 1917 to encourage the government to slow its borrowing. McCarthy and his GOP colleagues have been adamant that any debt ceiling raise should be tied to their own priorities, particularly in the form of spending cuts.

☆ Factbox: What's in the US House Republicans' debt-ceiling spending-cut bill?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

SPENDING RESTRAINTSThe bill would cut a wide swath of government spending to last year's levels, a decrease of about 9%. That would save roughly $3.2 trillion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, compared with current projections. That would save $30 billion, according to CBO. That would save $540 billion, according to CBO. That would save $3 billion, according to CBO.

☆ Debt crisis is a scary white swan for US economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Ben Winck | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

If Democrats and Republicans can’t agree to lift the government’s borrowing limit, the country could suffer an unprecedented and catastrophic default on its debt. The standoff over the debt ceiling is a white swan, or an entirely predictable, very frequent event that has the potential to be as catastrophic as its darker sibling. That is why, in all past scuffles over government borrowing, Congress ended up raising or suspending the debt ceiling. Uncertainty over the timing of the agreement led to the most volatile week for financial markets since the 2008 financial crisis. Failure to lift the debt ceiling soon can spark a vicious cycle of market anxiety, rising borrowing costs and bank stress.

☆ Kevin McCarthy is fighting to 'deny critical student debt relief' to 83,000 of his own constituents in his new debt ceiling bill, Biden's Education Secretary says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Kevin McCarthy unveiled his bill to raise the debt ceiling on Wednesday. It included banning student-loan forgiveness and ending the payment pause. The 320-page bill included $4.5 trillion in spending cuts, including strengthened work requirements on welfare programs, rescinding unspent pandemic funds, and banning student-loan forgiveness. Currently, Biden's broad debt relief is paused following two conservative-backed lawsuits that blocked the implementation of the plan, and the Supreme Court is expected to issue a final decision of the legality of the relief by June. "Let's get this straight: MAGA House Republicans are holding the economy hostage to prevent student debt relief from happening, while making it easier for the rich to cheat on their taxes," Biden wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

☆ A big macro issue is waiting to disrupt markets this summer that could cause the Fed to cut rates
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The debt ceiling debacle in Washington has the potential to upend the financial market and prompt the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, Bank of America warned. The warning followed news that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. released his plan to raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion for about a year. "Any economic damage could potentially be offset by earlier and/or larger Fed rate cuts. It recently signaled one more rate hike in 2023, while saying rate cuts are not its base case. Bank of America's economists estimated that federal expenditures would fall by 5% of GDP per year if the debt limit is not lifted.

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