By Aeden Evenson-McDermott

After the past few weeks of going back and forth between reaching the settlements and negotiators hunkering down, Biden and McCarthy’s teams finally struck a deal to raise the debt ceiling.

There were many consequences to the situation and if a deal wasn’t reached it would be quite catastrophic for the U.S. but also the world markets and economy overall. As for the U.S., inflation would continue to rise, prices for almost everything would be higher, health and social security benefits would be in limbo, and military personnel could go unpaid along with millions of jobs being lost.

Thankfully, in recent days, Biden and McCarthy struck a deal to avoid a default but still need the house and senate on board. Moderate Democrats and many Republicans are against the deal as they feel they lost important things in the bill. When you have two sides hammering out measures, both sides won’t be able to get everything, it’s just a part of the process which is inevitable.

With the deal being passed, it would create some time until after the next presidential election in 2024, and in 2025 it would expire.

Some of the issues at large that were in the deal will be examined. Caps on spending would be in the ballpark of $1 trillion less and no budget caps are in place after 2025. Defense spending would slightly increase and more protections for medical care of military veterans would also increase. Unspent COVID funds from the pandemic would be returned and are estimated to be at a value of $30 billion. Welfare of food stamps were protected but stricter work requirements were instituted. Further funds to tax the rich resulted in $80 billion for IRS funding. Energy projects would become more mainstream and projects would begin faster.

A few important clauses that were not included in the deal were student loan relief, tax hikes, and clean energy.

Overall, both sides came together at the bargaining table and got somewhat of what they bargained for. It remains to be seen on how the deal will be passed through the house and senate but both sides seem optimistic.