What's in the Fiscal Responsibility Act?

President Biden has signed into law the new debt ceiling agreement that he reached with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). The Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) suspends — as opposed to raising — the debt ceiling until 2025, after the next presidential election.

The FRA also makes a variety of changes related to domestic spending, although it falls far short of the cuts included in the Republican bill that the House passed in April 2023, with no changes to the GOP’s long-time targets of Social Security and Medicare. Nonetheless, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects the law will reduce the federal deficit by about $1.5 trillion over 10 years.

The new law primarily tackles discretionary spending. Over the next several days, we will address these notable provisions.