heartburn by some conservatives about the debt ceiling details. And there are indeed some troubling issues in play. We will get more information soon and be better able to judge at that time. Still, it looks like McCarthy has NOT sold conservatives out (as has so often been the case in the past), and in general it appears to be a decent, though not perfect, deal.
The exact details of what is in the deal won’t be known until text is released later on Sunday. But, according to a GOP fact sheet on the bill and Reps. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) and Stephanie Bice (R-OK), the deal would raise the debt ceiling until January of 2025, claw back nearly $29 billion in unspent COVID relief funds and add work requirements to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program up to age 54. It would also claw back the $1.9 billion appropriated to the Internal Revenue Service for the 87,000 new agents, implement a temporary 99% continuing resolution cap until all 12 appropriations bills are passed, and would restart student loan payments in 60-days.
So let’s see. I am cautiously optimistic. McCarthy has been a better Speaker than I expected, a better tactician than I thought, and has been more conservative than I predicted. So I lean toward giving him the benefit of the doubt, here. At least for now. We’ll see how this all shakes out.
But it was NEVER going to be the case that Conservatives were going to get all they wanted.