President Biden Signs Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023
Congress cleared and the president signed Public Law 118-5, the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, suspending the debt limit through January 1, 2025. The measure averts a first-ever U.S. default while imposing new discretionary spending caps and work requirements on federal nutrition and Medicaid programs.
ibtimes.co.ukWASHINGTON — President Biden signed the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 into law on June 3, 2023, enacting Public Law 118-5 after the House and Senate passed the package in separate votes the previous day.
The law suspends the statutory debt limit until January 1, 2025, allowing the Treasury Department to continue borrowing to meet all federal obligations during that period. It affects every holder of U.S. Treasury securities and every federal program dependent on timely payments, a universe that includes more than 330 million Americans receiving Social Security or Medicare, 42 million SNAP recipients, and roughly 80 million Medicaid enrollees.
The legislation changes the prior debt-ceiling regime, which would have been exhausted as soon as mid-June, by removing the limit entirely until 2025 instead of raising it by a fixed dollar amount. In exchange it caps non-defense discretionary spending at fiscal-year 2023 levels for 2024 and 2025, rescinds $30 billion in unobligated COVID-19 emergency funds, and tightens work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program while adding similar verification steps to Medicaid in select states.
The spending caps take effect with the fiscal 2024 appropriations cycle beginning October 1, 2023.
Downstream, the Treasury can now redeem maturing securities and issue new debt without statutory restriction through the end of 2024, eliminating the immediate risk of delayed payments on federal salaries, contractor invoices, benefit checks and interest on the national debt.
Appropriations committees must now produce twelve fiscal-year 2024 spending bills that conform to the new discretionary caps or face across-the-board sequester enforcement by the Office of Management and Budget. States administering SNAP and Medicaid will be required to update eligibility systems and reporting procedures by no later than October 1, 2023, to comply with the revised work and verification rules or risk losing federal matching funds.
This marks the second time in 12 months that Congress has used a must-pass debt-limit vehicle to enact spending restraint. The last statutory suspension, enacted in December 2021, expired in January 2023 and triggered the negotiations that produced Public Law 118-5. The underlying bill was H.R. 3746 in the 118th Congress.
Coverage spread
Substrate’s article above is written from the primary record. Below: how mainstream outlets reported the same event.
No mainstream coverage of this story has surfaced yet.
Transparency
Reported by a single outlet. This score reflects source tier and factual specificity — corroboration is limited with one source.
Related Stories
The HillSenate Republicans Advance $70B Immigration Enforcement Bill After Dropping Jan. 6 Restitution Fund
Senate Republicans began voting June 3 on a $70 billion immigration enforcement bill after the Justice Department halted a nearly $2 billion fund created in a Trump lawsuit settlement. Democrats plan to force votes on amendments to abolish the fund.
indianexpress.comBiden Signs CADETS Act Raising Age Limit for Student Incentive Payments
President Biden signed Public Law 118-7, the Changing Age-Determined Eligibility To Student Incentive Payments Act, which raises the maximum age for eligibility in the Maritime Administration's Student Incentive Payment program from 25 to 30. The change expands access to the fede…
voiceofsandiego.orgCalifornia governor primary remains deadlocked as vote counting continues
Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra lead the field for governor after Tuesday’s primary. Vote counting continues with nearly 60 percent of ballots tallied.