U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks on House Republican debt ceiling plan (April 26, 2023)

House Republicans passed a debt ceiling hike Wednesday.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy pushed his package to raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion through the House in a close vote. But the White House continues to say that it will not negotiate on the issue.

The federal government could default as soon as early June.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted the House’s Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023, calling it a “gut punch” and a “Default On America,” “This plan means fewer jobs, higher costs for the American people, particularly average middle class people, would leave police, first responders, border patrol, and our brave veterans all hanging out to dry. There are dramatic slashes with each of those very necessary functions.”

Schumer said a clean debt ceiling had been passed before in a bipartisan manner twice under President Trump and once under President Obama.

Congressman Nick Langworthy issued a statement on the plan, saying, “Today, I was proud to vote for the Limit Save Grow Act that is the first step to breaking Washington’s addiction to spending and getting our nation’s finances back on track. This plan is a responsible, reasonable framework for spending reforms that the American people are demanding. It’s time for President Biden to stop the games and come to the table to negotiate.”

Schumer said the cuts in the House’s plan are not abstract including the possibility that 2 million New York residents could lose Medicaid coverage, “It slashes federal heating assistance, LIHEAP, that upstate families and seniors use to stay safe. We lose close to a billion dollars in LIHEAP and would reduce the average benefit a household would receive by $400. New York does better with LIHEAP than any other state and it would hurt us dramatically.”

Schumer said there could be a $144 million cut in SNAP benefits for New Yorkers which would affect 53,000 residents in the state.

Moody’s analytics warned that “dramatic” cuts to government spending in the House Republican’s plan would spark a 2024 recession that costs the economy 2.6 million jobs and lifts the unemployment rate near 6%.

A nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis released Tuesday showed the Republican plan would reduce federal deficits by $4.8 trillion over the decade if the proposed changes were enacted into law.

This marks the first bill passed by the GOP-controlled House this Congress.

The bill, which is unlikely to see action in the Democratic-controlled Senate, passed in a party-line 221-210 vote on Monday evening.

A boost of about $80 billion in IRS funding over a decade generally aimed at upping high-income enforcement was included in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act, Democrats’ sweeping tax, health and climate bill.

The Republican bill, formally titled the “Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act,” directs any “unobligated balances of amounts appropriated or otherwise made available” to the IRS from the Inflation Reduction Act to be rescinded.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated Monday that the legislation would eliminate about $71 billion of the total $80 billion that was allocated for the IRS but would reduce tax revenue by about $186 billion, translating to a $114 billion increase in deficits over the next decade.

Republicans have repeatedly falsely claimed the 87,000 new IRS employees, who would be added over the course of a decade, would be “agents.”

The 87,000 figure comes from a May 2021 Treasury Department compliance report estimating new hires over a decade with the $80 billion funding boost. But only a small portion of the department’s current employees are agents, and the department has said the figure accounts for other workers such as customer service representatives and computer scientists as well as replacements for the 52,000 employees expected to retire or resign within the next six years.

IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said in an August letter to members of the Senate that the funds from the legislation would be used to up examination of large corporations and high-net-worth individuals and were not designed to raise enforcement for households making less than $400,000.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has also said that the agency would not increase audit rates for those taxpayers making less than $400,000.

Republicans, however, argued that the directives did not prohibit increased enforcement activities directed at middle- and low-income taxpayers, and pointed to a CBO analysis that said the funding boost would mean audit rates “rise for all taxpayers.” They also criticized the legislation for not allocating a larger portion to taxpayer services.

Representative Nick Langworthy voted for the bill, saying in a statement, “The problems facing the people of Western New York and the Southern Tier require a sense of urgency and that’s what they deserve from their representatives. I made a promise to protect taxpayers from an overzealous, politicized IRS and I delivered. The American people entrusted us with the Majority and it’s time we produce results. We are just getting started.”

The bill stand little chance in the Senate, and the White House said in a statement on Monday that President Biden would veto it if it came to his desk.

Donald Trump

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to repeal and replace “Obamacare” is now in the hands of a key group of GOP senators who are opposing -or not yet supporting – legislation Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is pushing to bring to a vote this week.

These lawmakers range from moderate to conservative Republicans, and include senators who were just re-elected and a couple facing tough re-election fights. Their concerns about the legislation vary along with their ideology, from those who say it’s overly punitive in ejecting people from the insurance rolls, to others who say it doesn’t go far enough in dismantling former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine tweeted after the Congressional Budget Office analysis on Monday that the Senate bill won’t fix the flaws in the current bill. She says she will vote no on the “motion to proceed.”

Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin says he has “a hard time believing I’ll have enough information for me to support a motion to proceed this week.”

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky says it’s worse to “pass a bad bill than to pass no bill.”

CUOMO WEIGHS IN ON SENATE HEALTHCARE BILL

NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo (left) and Congressman Tom Reed (right)

Meanwhile, Gov. Andrew Cuomo hasn’t been shy about voicing his criticism of the Senate version of the health care bill. In a statement released Monday following an assessment report released by the Congressional Budget Office on the Senate Plan, the governor said the report shows that Republicans in the Senate are choosing to put millionaires over the middle class, cutting taxes for the rich at the expense of the health care of millions of Americans.

“This bill will leave 22 million more Americans without health care coverage, including 15 million more Americans by next year alone,” The governor noted. “Just like the House bill, this legislation is a death trap for New Yorkers. The Senate bill will jeopardize health care coverage for millions of New Yorkers, raise premiums on the poor and the elderly, and eliminate more than $7 billion for New York’s health care system, including life-saving funding for the fight against the opioid crisis. It also specifically targets New York, threatening to withhold federal tax credits for New Yorkers because of our support for women’s reproductive rights.”

He also said that the inclusion of the Faso-Collins amendment – which aims to eliminate the local contribution counties pay the state to help cover the cost of Medicaid – would force every resident to pay more through a new state tax.

“And by including the reckless Faso-Collins amendment, this bill will force every resident of this state to pay a ‘Faso-Collins Federal Tax’ added onto local property taxes to make up the $2.3 billion shortfall created by their proposal,” The governor noted.

Cuomo said he’s already called on the state’s Congressional delegation to do everything within their means to protect New York residents and not support the measures. However, Chautauqua County’s representative in Congress, Republican Tom Reed of Corning, released a statement critical of the governor, calling him a liar and a bully who’s done nothing for upstate New York.

“Governor Cuomo is a liar who has done nothing for upstate New York,” Reed said. “He’s a one trick pony for whom everything is an excuse to raise taxes. He needs to buck up like other governors and start reining in the cost of Medicaid and figure out more efficient ways of spending the taxpayers’ money. Instead, he acts like a bully and threatens a tax hike on middle class families.  I’d like to see Gov. Cuomo run for president owning the highest tax increase in America.”

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

WASHINGTON – Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning, NY 23) is continuing to defend his vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, and replacing it with the GOP-backed American Health Care Act (AHCA), or ‘Truumpcare’ as some critics have dubbed it.

During his weekly conference call with Media on Tuesday, Reed said he stands by the AHCA, saying the plan is better for the country, compared to ACA. He also responded to a question about the concerns that have been raised regarding AHCA, saying they stem from a lot of misinformation.

“There’s a lot of misinformation out there about the bill and probably the biggest misinformation is the whole issue of preexisting condition reform being attacked by this legislation,” Reed said. “I can assure you, as a father of a type 1 diabetic and firmly in support of preexisting condition reform, the legislative text and the legislative interpretation that folks are trying to latch into in some theoretical situation where this risk is going to materialize is just false. It’s not going to materialize.”

Reed also said that many critics of the AHCA are against it for political reasons.

“I believe because it’s such a political issues, folks are going to engage in the politics and the rhetoric of healthcare and I understand that, I understand what their intentions are,” Reed said, adding, “But at the end of the day, I’m going to listen to the patients and I’m going to listen to the fact that the status quo can not be continued because it’s risking millions of Americans’ lives, so we have to deal with this healthcare situation in a proactive and positive step.”

The House’s amended version of the AHCA has yet to be scored by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), so there has yet to be an updated score on what kind of impact the amended legislation will actually have on the American people. WRFA asked Reed about the decision by House Republicans to move forward and hold a vote before the CBO released its findings.

“I did raise a voice and say we should wait until the complete score is done, but obviously the decision was made to go with the base score and I’m comfortable with that base score,” ,” Reed said. “I recognize the score when it comes to the 24 million folks that they estimate will lose coverage, but I also recognize the improvement in the premiums that bill shows. So overall that base score is something that I’m confident in, in regard to the CBO doing its job.”

And Reed said even if the House had waited for the updated CBO score on the revised legislation, there’s no guarantee how accurate it would have been.

“You look at where the CBO budget score was for the Affordable Care Act, where they said 22 million Americans would be gaining additional healthcare coverage under their score. But when we actually saw the numbers come out, it was actually 10 or 11 million. That tells me you have to have some common sense here. You have to get all the information that you can and then you have to make an informed decision when the legislation is before you,” Reed said.

The Senate still has to act on the AHCA legislation and it appears they will wait until the final CBO scores are released before moving on the legislation. The Senate will have the option of approving the same version the House approved – which would then move it on to the president for his signature. Or it could also amend the legislation, sending it back to the House for reconciliation before a final draft is agreed upon and both vote on it again before sending it to the president. There’s also the slim possibility the legislation will be defeated in the Senate, with 49 Democrats already against it, meaning only two Republicans would also have to vote against it in order for it to fail Senate approval.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

WASHINGTON – Chautauqua County’s congressman has no regrets about voting against extending the federal debt ceiling during a vote last week in Washington.

Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) was among an estimated 200 house members who voted against the extension, which allows the U.S. to continue to borrow money to pay off its debts.

During a media conference call on Monday, Reed said the extension shows that Congress has failed to hold the line on the national debt and in turn, the interest payment on the debt is set to quadruple within the decade.

Reed highlighted a recent report from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projecting the interest payment on the national debt will nearly quadruple in the next ten years – to $880 billion by 2024. In comparison, Reed said that the country spent about $670 billion on defense in 2012 and roughly $768 billion on all of Social Security in the same year.

“So you are talking in about having to make a debt payment of $880 billion. In relationship, look at what we’re spending in all for Social Security and look at what we’re spending for defense. That is why this debt has to be taken into consideration and we have to address it today, sooner rather than later,” Reed said.

He also said that if the country continues to go further into debt, it will prohibit private businesses from wanting to set up shop in the U.S.

“Think about the small business owner. Think about a large business, deciding to put a manufacturing facility in America,” Reed said. “If they don’t see a plan out of Washington to get this debt under control, don’t you think they’ll be concerned about making a long term investment that’s going to build that plant on American soil  because we don’t have our fiscal house in order in Washington? Who’s going to get left holding the bag? Hard working taxpayers.”

Prior to last week’s debt ceiling vote, Reed said he would be part of even “baby steps” toward reducing Washington spending and the debt. He added he went to Washington to change the status quo and get the debt under control and that a bill that fails to make any progress is a non-deal for him.

Just 28 House Republicans voted in favor of extending the debt ceiling, despite it being supported by House speaker John Boehner. The final vote was 221 members for, and 201 members against.