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WASHINGTON − A bipartisan agreement to avoid a catastrophic default on the nation’s debt would result in the government spending more money, not less, on food stamps — the exact opposite of what House Republicans intended when they made tightening work requirements a priority for agreeing to suspend the debt ceiling.
That’s according to an analysis released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, potentially complicating House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s job of getting the agreement through the GOP-controlled House.
Congress was already on a tight schedule to send legislation to President Joe Biden’s desk before June 5, the earliest date Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the government may not be able to meet its debt obligations.
The CBO’s analysis also said:
- Overall, the combination of spending cuts and policy changes would reduce budget deficits by about $1.5 trillion over the next decade.
- Rescinding IRS funding recently passed to make the agency more effective would save $1.4 billion but reduce revenues by $2.3 billion.
- Ending in August the pause in student loan payments is not counted as a savings as it merely codifies the timeline the Biden administration already announced.
House committee advances billMcCarthy clears first hurdle in passing debt ceiling deal
Adding work requirements to the federal health care program for the poor and tightening them for recipients of food and cash assistance was one of the top demands House Republicans made in their negotiations with Biden.
The agreement did not include work requirements for Medicaid, the health care program, and did not go as far as Republicans wanted for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
In addition, in exchange for increasing SNAP’s age limit for work requirements on able-bodied adults without dependents from 49 to 54, the deal would also create new exemptions. People experiencing homelessness, veterans and people ages 18 to 24 who were in foster care when they turned 18 would not be subject to work rules for food assistance.
The White House estimates the number of people newly protected would be about the same as those newly subjected to work requirements.
“Those numbers are going to be very close to each other,” said Shalanda Young, Biden’s budget director.
But CBO said the SNAP changes would increase federal spending by about $2.1 billion. Approximately 78,000 more people would receive food assistance in an average month than currently projected.
On the other hand, changes to TANF, the cash assistance program, would save the government $5 million.
That allows Republicans to say they’re saving money overall on welfare programs.
But some insist the bill doesn’t go far enough.
“This ‘deal’ is insanity,” tweeted Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., one of two Republicans who tried unsuccessfully to block the bill from advancing to a floor vote Tuesday night. “A $4T debt ceiling increase with virtually no cuts is not what we agreed to.”
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