A Realistic Look At The Debt Ceiling Bill

I am not a regular reader of substack, but there is an awful lot of really good content there. One of my favorite contributors is Florida lawyer Robert DuChemin, Sr. On Thursday, Attorney DuChemin posted an article about the agreement reached and passed by Congress on the debt ceiling. The article presents a very realistic view of the bill.

The article states:

I am quite disappointed in the way many Republicans are discussing the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. It was a GOP win. Period. If one is playing a football game and your guy kicks a field goal with three seconds remaining to win the game, you won. The fact that you threw four interceptions and should have won by much more doesn’t really matter at that point. You won.

FSU blew a 14-point, fourth-quarter lead against LSU last year. Yet we still cheered when FSU blocked the tying PAT with no time remaining for the win.

…And this was actually a very big victory. It is the first time in history where Congress has retrieved funds, any funds, that it previously had appropriated. Among the funds recovered was a $400 million gift to the National Institutes of Health to fund more “gain-of-function” research. Yes, that is the same research that brought us the Wuhan Flu (Covid-19 to the wokies) and caused Russia to invade Ukraine after they discovered we were doing the same thing on their border.

The same goes for the reduction in the IRS funding. I will admit it is not as much money as I wanted but is sufficient to terminate China Joe‘s plans to expand the IRS this year. When next year‘s appropriation comes up, the GOP can simply cut out more.

Although future guarantees are like frosting on the cake, they are worthless. If the federal government had a nickel for every time a politician went back on their promise, we wouldn’t be in this situation because the federal government would no longer be in debt. Should the Democrats keep the Senate and pick up only four seats in the House, they will simply refund everything in 2025.

The article mentions something the Republicans complaining about the bill need to realize:

The Democrats are so much better at this than the Republicans. That is why 165 democrats in the House voted for the bill. The only Democrats that voted against it are from gerrymandered “safe“ districts. The other Democrats know they better claim it as a victory if they want to win next year’s election. The conservatives voting against the bill also are mostly from safe districts but their criticism is costing their brethren votes.

The conservatives are a minority in one branch of government. Until they control two branches, Washington will continue to do business as usual.

A Possible Resolution To The Debt Ceiling Crisis

On Sunday, Breitbart reported that Congress has released the details of the debt deal agreement that should avoid a government shutdown. As was to be expected, there are some good things and some bad things. There is also some griping from people who don’t want any compromise. Although I can identify with those people, I think the deal we got was the best we were going to get. The only thing that really will prevent a government shutdown by the Biden administration is the polls that are showing that the Biden administration would be blamed for that shutdown. The Democrats control two branches of government, so it makes it hard to blame the Republicans for much.

The article reports:

Congress released a bill package Sunday to increase the nation’s debt limit in exchange for a number of Republicans’ desired spending cuts and other concessions.

House lawmakers will have three days to review the 99-page bill, called the Fiscal Responsibility Act, before they are set to vote for it as soon as Wednesday. The bill can be viewed here.

House GOP leadership said in a statement that the legislation, which raises the debt ceiling through January 2025, included a “historic series of wins.”

“The Fiscal Responsibility Act does what is responsible for our children, what is possible in divided government, and what is required by our principles and promises,” the leaders said. “Only because of Republicans’ resolve did we achieve this transformative change to how Washington operates.”

The bill rescinds funds that have been allocated toward COVID, mandates student loan payments to resume in August, rescinds a portion of unused funding allocated toward the IRS, expands work requirements for certain welfare recipients, and tightens permitting processes under the National Environmental Policy Act.

The bill also caps discretionary spending for the next two years and includes a provision pushed by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to force Congress into funding the government through 12 appropriations bills rather than one omnibus bill.

The good things I see are the resumption of student loan payments, rescinding COVID funds, and funding the government through appropriations bills rather than one omnibus bill. If those three things remain in the final bill, then we have made some progress.

UPDATE: The bill passed the House last night. It’s not a great bill, but it’s not an awful bill. It is probably the best we can do right now.