Reviews Are In: Millions of Americans Directly Hurt By McCarthy-MAGA Default Plan That Protects Massive Corporate Profits and Tax Loopholes

Washington D.C. – The reviews are in on Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s bill laying out extreme economic ransom demands in exchange for not deliberately pushing the nation into an artificial default crisis and very real recession. And it’s worse news for average Americans than even predicted; see the roundup below detailing just a sampling of the economic misery the MAGA majority is demanding from millions of America’s seniors, workers, veterans, low-income children, and people with disabilities – all while not asking their billionaire donors or profiteering corporations to contribute a single dime towards their supposed debt ‘concerns.’

So who does the McCarthy-MAGA plan actually leave better off? Wealthy tax cheats. The bill cancels resources set to go to the IRS over the next decade to crack down on sophisticated tax schemes exploited by the rich – a move that would actually balloon the deficit by $114 billion according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. 

While the bill is a tough sell to American people who overwhelmingly want Congress to pass a clean bill to pay the nation’s bills and avoid a catastrophic default, it’s winning plaudits from people like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), proud member of the Freedom Caucus, widely-regarded as the most extreme right-wing of the House Majority. “The leadership just picked up the House Freedom Caucus plan and helped us convert it into the legislative text,” Gaetz said.

And it shows. Here is just a taste of the harm the MAGA Majority plans to exact on average Americans: 

• Rips Away Aid From Millions of Seniors and Children: CNN: “The proposal would return funding for federal agencies to fiscal 2022 levels, while aiming to limit the growth in spending to 1% per year… slashing nutrition services for 1 million senior citizens and eliminating affordable housing assistance for close to 1.1 million families. Also, the reduction would impact the 6.6 million students who rely on Pell Grants and the 1.2 million women, infants and children who receive nutrition assistance through WIC, DeLauro said. Plus, 200,000 children would lose access to Head Start and 100,000 children would lose access to child care.” 
• Offshores 100,000 Good-Paying Green Jobs: USA TODAY: “McCarthy’s debt ceiling plan to cut $4.5 trillion in spending would jeopardize more than 100,000 green manufacturing jobs – many in Republican congressional districts – announced as a result of incentives in President Joe Biden’s landmark climate law, the White House said Thursday.”
• Slows Down Social Security Administration: Reuters: ‘Republican states could be hit hardest by McCarthy’s proposed spending cuts’ : But the [Social Security Administration] warned last month that budget cuts could make it more difficult to administer benefits. That could have a bigger impact in Trump-voting states, where 20.1% of residents rely on the program, compared to 18.6% of residents in Biden states.”
• Eliminates Student Debt Forgiveness for 40 Million Americans: U.S. Department of Education: “Today, McCarthy declared that he will force a catastrophic default and plunge America into recession unless he can claw back school relief dollars and prevent millions of hardworking Americans – including over 83,000 borrowers in his own district – from getting the student debt relief they need coming out of the pandemic. […] Overall, more than 40 million borrowers would qualify for the Biden Administration’s debt relief program. Nearly 90 percent of the benefits of the relief going to out-of-school borrowers would go to those earning less than $75,000 per year.

• Strips Away Aid for Americans Crushed by Debt: Student Borrower Protection Center: “This does more than block badly needed action to cancel student debt for nearly everyone—House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has proposed unwinding the widely popular pandemic-era pause on interest charges and reversing debt discharges already granted to more than 100,000 teachers, healthcare workers, and others who served on the front lines of America’s pandemic response. Even worse, this proposal would make permanent the debt trap for any borrower who does not earn enough money to afford their monthly loan bills by blocking the Administration’s newly proposed Income-Driven Repayment plan. The student loan system was broken when President Biden inherited it from Donald Trump. Kevin McCarthy and House Republicans are making it clear they like it that way.”

• Guts Veterans’ Telehealth Access and Threatens National Security: Fed Scoop:  “Department of Veteran Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough on Wednesday warned that a move to cap his agency’s budget at fiscal 2022 levels could harm its telehealth and cybersecurity programs. McDonough set out concerns about a $345 million shortfall within the VA Office of Information Technology (OIT) and a $465 million shortfall in infrastructure and technology funding regarding major construction elements if Republican proposals to cap the budget succeed.”
  • Secretary McDonough Noted Veteran Affairs Had Seen A “‘3000% Increase In The Use Of Telehealth’” Since Fiscal Year 2022. “The secretary’s comments follow a commitment by House Republicans, reiterated earlier this month, to cap the federal government budget at 2022 levels. In particular, McDonough stressed the potential negative effects of Republican proposals on telehealth reliability. ‘I’m told the office of [information] and technology would have a $345 million shortfall… which would have a significant impact on network reliability which is increasingly what we use for a 3000% increase in use of telehealth so it would have an impact there, McDonough said.”

• Leaves Millions Hungry – Including Children and Veterans: Reuters: “McCarthy also proposed stiffening work requirements for benefit programs like SNAP, which provides grocery money for low-income people. That… could hit Republican-leaning states harder: 3.1% of the population in those states could lose benefits, compared with 2.8% of residents in Biden states, according to a Reuters analysis of data compiled by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank.”
  • CBPP: “Nationwide more than 10 million people, about 1 in 4 SNAP participants, live in households that would be at risk of losing food assistance benefits under this bill. That includes about 6 million people who would potentially be newly subject to the time limit and at risk of losing SNAP, and about 4 million children who live in families that could have their SNAP benefits reduced, harming the entire household.”

  • Politico: “Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently told House Agriculture members who oversee SNAP that the ‘able-bodied’ group of low-income Americans without dependents receiving assistance is ‘mostly male and mostly homeless,’ including homeless veterans. People who have just aged out of foster care are also in the group. This population of SNAP recipients tends to have lower education levels, as well.” 

• • Decimates Infrastructure: Reuters found McCarthy’s proposed cuts to discretionary spending would disproportionately impact “states that backed Republican President Donald trump in the 2020 presidential election,” with these 25 states receiving $1,196 per person “in the last fiscal year for highway construction, housing, public health and other purposes” compared to $1,079 per person in the 25 states and Washington, DC that went for President Biden.
    

• Any provisions ensuring multi-billion corporations pay their fair share in taxes – or closing any special corporate tax loopholes? Not a Single One. 

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