“At best, we have a two-year spending freeze that’s full of loopholes and gimmicks,” said Representative Chip Roy, a prominent member of the hardline House Freedom Caucus.

Progressive Democrats, who along with Biden had resisted negotiating over the debt ceiling, oppose the bill for a few reasons, including new work requirements from some federal anti-poverty programs.

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“Republicans are forcing us to decide which vulnerable Americans get to eat or they’ll throw us into default. It’s just plain wrong,” said Democratic Representative Jim McGovern on Wednesday.

Late on Tuesday, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said the legislation would result in $US1.5 trillion in savings over a decade. That is below the $US4.8 trillion in savings that Republicans aimed for in a bill they passed through the House in April, and also below the $US3 trillion in deficit that Biden’s proposed budget would have reduced over that time through new taxes.

Senate up next

In the Senate, leaders of both parties said they hoped to move to enact the legislation before the weekend. But a potential delay over amendment votes could complicate matters.

Republicans said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell could need to allow votes on Republican amendments to ensure quick action.

But Schumer appeared to rule out amendments on Wednesday, telling reporters: “We cannot send anything back to the House, plain and simple. We must avoid default.”

Senate debate and voting could stretch into the weekend, especially if any one of the 100 senators tries to slow passage.

Hardline Republican Senator Rand Paul, long known for delaying important Senate votes, has said he would not hold up passage if allowed to offer an amendment for a floor vote.

Senator Bernie Sanders, a progressive independent who caucuses with the Democrats, said he would oppose the bill due to inclusion of an energy pipeline and extra work requirements. “I cannot, in good conscience, vote for the debt ceiling deal,” Sanders said on Twitter.

In a win for Republicans, the bill would shift some funding away from the Internal Revenue Service, although the White House says that should not undercut tax enforcement.

Biden can point to gains as well.

The deal leaves his signature infrastructure and green-energy laws largely intact, and the spending cuts and work requirements are far less than Republicans had sought.

Republicans have argued that steep spending cuts are necessary to curb the growth of the national debt, which at $US31.4 trillion is roughly equal to the annual output of the economy.

Interest payments on that debt are projected to eat up a growing share of the budget as an ageing population pushes up health and retirement costs, according to government forecasts. The deal would not do anything to rein in those fast-growing programs.

Most of the savings would come by capping spending on domestic programs like housing, education, scientific research and other forms of “discretionary” spending. Military spending would be allowed to increase over the next two years.

The debt-ceiling stand-off prompted ratings agencies to warn that they might downgrade US debt, which underpins the global financial system.

Credit rating agency DBRS Morningstar put the United States on review for a possible downgrade last week, echoing similar warnings by Fitch, Moody’s and Scope Ratings.

Another agency, S&P Global, downgraded US debt following a similar debt-ceiling standoff in 2011 during a similar partisan divide with a Democratic president and Senate majority and a Republican-majority House.

Reuters

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