Debt Ceiling Deal Curtails GOP-Backed Budget Cuts, Spending Caps

May 29, 2023

The deal will freeze non-military discretionary spending this year and allow a 1 percent increase in 2024.

by Eric Boehm Reason.com

After a monthslong standoff, President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R–Calif.) announced a deal to raise the federal government’s debt limit and avert the first default in U.S. history.

The deal will suspend the debt limit through January 2025—in other words, until after the winners of the next presidential and congressional elections are sworn-in—and caps non-military discretionary spending for each of the next two years. According to multiple media reports, the caps will hold steady that part of the federal budget at 2023 levels next year and will allow for a 1 percent increase in 2025. After that, the caps will be removed.