Dan Bishop's new definition of "getting zippo" for the debt ceiling deal

Last night, Speaker McCarthy told reporters he wouldn't take their questions until today, explaining that he wanted to brief his caucus first. The WSJ's Natalie Andrews and Sabrina Siddiqui have this article published that reports on the contents of the Speaker-Conference call.

They've written "President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) reached a tentative agreement Saturday for raising the nation’s debt ceiling for two years and placing new limits on spending over that period, moving to end a standoff that has threatened a historic default on U.S. government debt and put the global economy on edge."

This is a major victory for Speaker McCarthy, though this is the final part of the victory. This fate was determined when House Republicans passed the Limit, Save, Grow Act, the GOP's debt ceiling bill, back in mid-April.

According to the Journal's reporting, "Biden, in a statement, said that 'the agreement represents a compromise, which means not everyone gets what they want.' He urged both chambers to pass the deal, saying it would prevent 'what could have been a catastrophic default and would have led to an economic recession, retirement accounts devastated, and millions of jobs lost.'"

DIRTY LITTLE SECRET: There was little chance of default. The only chance the U.S. would've defaulted would've been if Biden ordered Yellen to stop taking what are called 'extraordinary measures.' That wasn't likely to happen because it would've essentially ended his presidency. Then there's this mini-turmoil:

But some conservatives said that they had wanted more. Rep. Dan Bishop (R., N.C.) tweeted that House Republicans on the call were "congratulating McCarthy for getting almost zippo" in exchange for what he said was a $4 trillion raise in the federal borrowing limit. The federal debt limit is currently $31.4 trillion.

That's breathtaking. The biggest reform in Limit, Save, Grow is the tightening of work requirements for federal food aid:

The tentative deal would require able-bodied, low-income adults without dependents between the ages of 18 and 54 to work in order to receive food aid, up from age 49 currently. Under current law these adults can receive benefits for no more than three months within a three-year period, unless they are working or enrolled in a work program. The changes to food aid work requirements would end after a period of years.

In an effort to make the change more palatable to Democrats, the agreement also relaxes work requirements for veterans and homeless people, and it doesn’t impose any for Medicaid.

Here are some other things that Republicans get in the bill:

• keep nondefense spending in 2024 at roughly the same level as fiscal year 2023 and increase it by roughly 1% in 2025, people familiar with the negotiations said.
• cut $10 billion from the IRS budget.
• forces a 1% cut in government spending if all 12 appropriations bills aren’t passed by the end of this year.

That last gem is potentially huge. That forces a 1% cut if Sen. Schumer and Sen. McConnell cook up another omnibus spending bill in an attempt to avoid regular order.

As for the unspent Covid-19 money, "the deal would claw back some unspent money that Congress passed to battle the pandemic, another top priority for Republicans. One GOP lawmaker said the amount was estimated to be about $29 billion." This is the abridged version of what's in the bill:

Rep. Dan Bishop and Sen. Rand Paul, 2 members of what I call the 'Nothing is ever good enough Caucus', are complaining. That's to be expected. They're acting like Republicans enjoy unified GOP government. Kevin McCarthy's House was the only GOP leg of the 3-legged stool (House, Senate, White House). To slow spending while getting 2 significant reforms is a pretty significant accomplishment. Paul and Bishop can whine all they want but it doesn't diminish Speaker McCarthy's accomplishment.