Jayapal says debt ceiling deal could mean ‘harmful impacts for poor people’

Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Chairwoman Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said Tuesday that the debt ceiling deal worked out between the White House and House GOP leadership could mean “harmful” effects for poor and working Americans.

In a press call Tuesday afternoon, Jayapal said progressives have “serious concerns about the environmental justice implications of this bill,” noting language greenlighting the Mountain Valley Pipeline. 

The congresswoman credited the White House in negotiations for helping ensure the bill’s proposed federal spending caps are not as “as catastrophic as they could have been,” but she also raised concerns about how the new spending limits will affect funding for nondefense programs. 

“When it comes time to write these appropriations bills. There will be some very, very difficult choices to make,” she said, while also taking aim at parts of the bill that would beef up work requirements for some federal assistance programs and make it harder for President Biden to extend the ongoing student loan repayment pause. 

“There will be real harmful impacts for poor people and working people being barred from income support that they not just desperately need, but frankly, that they deserve,” she said. “There will be impacts for environmental justice and the fight against the climate crisis and the recisions in funding — many of which we still don’t have clarity about.”

The comments come as Congress is facing a tight countdown to pass legislation addressing the debt ceiling, which limits how much the debt the government can owe on to pay the country’s bills, or it risks what experts say would be an unprecedented federal default.

After weeks of tense negotiations between the White House and House GOP negotiators, Biden and McCarthy announced Saturday they reached an agreement to raise the debt ceiling, along with several compromises on policies aimed at curbing spending. 

As part of the bipartisan deal, they agreed to raise the debt limit for two years, implement new work requirements on certain federal assistance programs like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, impose budget caps and claw back billions in unobligated coronavirus funds.  

Jayapal said Tuesday the CPC performed a whip check on members on three questions. 

“Would they support a deal that includes bad permitting policies? Would they support a deal that includes work requirements on social safety net programs? And would they support a deal that includes harmful spending cuts,” Jayapal recalled. “And an overwhelming majority of our members said that they would not be able to support a deal that included those things.”

Jayapal said she anticipates the caucus will have a “good sense” of where its members stand on the final product and “whether or not the CPC will take an official position separate from how we all individually vote.”