The bipartisan deal to raise the nation's borrowing limit, hailed by both parties, barely moves the needle on pandemic-era government spending nor fixes the causes of runaway growth in the federal budget.
Republicans and Democrats agreed before beginning their negotiations not to touch so-called mandatory spending — Social Security,and Medicaid. Those politically popular entitlement programs account for nearly two-thirds of annual federal spending.
The runaway train of federal spending didn’t stop in January when the government hit its debt ceiling of $31.4 trillion. Although the government was not authorized by law to keep borrowing, and Treasury was taking “extraordinary measures” to prevent default,The national debt had reached $31.8 trillion before President Biden signed the bill on Saturday that authorizes more unlimited borrowing through 2024.
For decades, lawmakers and presidents in both parties have ducked any serious talk about the three generally accepted solutions for shoring up the Social Security trust fund — raising taxes, slowing the growth of benefits and raising the retirement age which is now 67 for people born after 1960. Opponents of the new debt limit deal say the agreement essentially has enshrined pandemic-era emergency spending levels as the new normal.
The agreement includes pay-go requirements for offsetting spending increases with cuts elsewhere. But it also gives the Biden White House sole authority to waive that requirement whenever it sees fit, with no court challenges allowed.Unlike other debt-limit increases, the deal struck by President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy sets no ceiling on borrowing through early 2025.
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