CNN
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After several weeks of tense negotiations, President Joe Biden and House Republicans have reached an agreement in principle to raise the debt ceiling and limit spending.
The drama is not over. Congressional leaders from both parties must convince enough of their members to vote in favor of the deal, which contains provisions that lawmakers on each side of the aisle do not support.
Full details of the deal are not yet available. And the information made public on Saturday evening shows some discrepancies. The text of the bill is expected to be published on Sunday.
Here’s what we know about the deal, based on a fact sheet distributed by House Republicans and a source familiar with the negotiations.
Raise the debt ceiling: The deal would raise the debt limit for two years.
Limit non-defense spending: Under the deal, non-defense spending would remain relatively flat in fiscal 2024 and rise 1 percent in fiscal 2025, after certain unspecified adjustments were made to appropriations, the source said.
After fiscal year 2025, there would be endowment goals, but they would not be enforceable, according to the source.
The House GOP fact sheet says non-defense discretionary spending would return to fiscal 2022 levels and core federal spending would be limited to 1 percent annual growth over the next six years.
The debt ceiling bill that House Republicans passed last month would return discretionary spending to fiscal year 2022 levels and then limit spending growth to 1 percent for a decade. Defense spending would be protected.
Protect veterans’ medical care: The deal would maintain full funding for veterans’ health care and increase support for the PACT Act’s toxic exposure fund by nearly $15 billion for fiscal year 2024, the source said.
The House GOP fact sheet says veterans’ health care would be fully funded.
Expand job requirements: The agreement calls for temporarily extending work requirements for certain adults receiving food stamps.
Currently, single and childless adults between the ages of 18 and 49 can only get food stamps for three months out of every three years, unless they work at least 20 hours a week or meet other criteria. The agreement would raise the age to 54, according to the source. The GOP fact sheet says it would apply to people up to age 55.
However, the deal would also expand exemptions for veterans, the homeless and others from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, as food stamps are formally known.
And all the changes would end in 2030.
The agreement would also bring changes to the current work requirements of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.
Work requirements would not be introduced into Medicaid, which House Republicans had called for in their debt ceiling bill.
Recover unspent Covid-19 relief funds: The deal would void unobligated funds from the Covid-19 relief packages that Congress passed to respond to the pandemic, according to the House GOP fact sheet.
Estimates of the amount of the roughly $4.5 trillion in relief vary.
Cut funding to the Internal Revenue Service: The deal would cancel the fiscal year 2023 full-staff funding request that the House GOP says would go to new IRS agents, according to the fact sheet.
House Republicans have been determined to cancel the roughly $80 billion in IRS funding contained in the Inflation Reduction Act that Democrats passed last year. GOP lawmakers argue the money will be used to hire an army of new agents to audit Americans, but the agency says it will also be used to support operations, modernize customer service technology and help taxpayers.
Restart your student loan payment: The deal would require borrowers to pay back their student loans, according to the House GOP fact sheet, though it did not specify when the repayments would begin. They have stopped since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, the deal would maintain Biden’s plan to provide up to $20,000 in debt relief for qualified borrowers, the source said. The measure is currently before the Supreme Court, which is expected to rule in the coming weeks.
