Today, Congresswoman Deborah Ross (NC-02) released the following statement on House passage of the Bipartisan Budget Agreement:

“Here’s the bottom line: the Bipartisan Budget Agreement will prevent a devastating default and avert the deep economic pain that default would inflict on the American people. Although it’s certainly imperfect, this deal saves our economy from catastrophe and prevents Republicans from enacting an extreme wish list that includes cutting funding for veterans’ health care, threatening Medicare, Social Security, and more. While Republicans tried to hold our economy hostage for political gain, President Biden negotiated the strongest deal possible under extremely challenging circumstances.

“I could not be there to vote for this legislation because I tested positive for COVID-19, and House Republicans eliminated proxy voting when they took the majority. However, I am relieved that this legislation has passed the House in a bipartisan vote and hope the Senate moves quickly to get it to the President’s desk.” 

The Bipartisan Budget Agreement:

• Prevents Default: The agreement averts a catastrophic default that would have triggered a recession, cost millions of jobs, devastated retirement accounts, and undermined the historic economic progress we’ve made over the past two years, including the creation of more than 12 million jobs and the lowest unemployment rate in more than 50 years.
• Protects Democrats’ Economic Growth Agenda: The agreement protects President Biden and Congressional Democrats’ key accomplishments from the past two years— including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, the PACT Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act.
• Protects Americans’ Health Care and Retirements: The agreement protects Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act—safeguarding health insurance coverage for tens of millions of Americans.
• Fully Funds Veterans’ Medical Care: The agreement fully funds veterans’ medical care, including mandatory funding for the PACT Act’s toxic exposure fund at the levels the President proposed in his FY 2024 Budget.
• Locks In Two-Year Debt Limit Suspension and Budget Deal: The agreement includes a two-year debt limit suspension and a two-year budget deal—consistent with recent bipartisan budget agreements—and rejects the 10-year caps House Republicans proposed.
• Rejects Extreme Discretionary Cuts: The agreement locks in funding levels the President and Congressional Democrats secured for 2023, following two years of significant increases in key investments like education, child care, and cancer research.
• Rejects Work Requirements for Medicaid and Adds New Exemptions for SNAP: The agreement includes no Medicaid changes. On SNAP, the agreement newly exempts from work requirements veterans and people who are homeless of all ages, as well as former foster youth through age 24. While it also includes new SNAP work requirements for adults age 50-54 without dependents—a provision the President fought hard against— that provision is phased in and all of these SNAP provisions are sunset.
• Supports Continued Progress Toward a Clean Energy Economy: The agreement protects the Inflation Reduction Act's historic climate provisions and environmental justice investments, helps us keep accelerating toward a clean energy economy, and maintains substantive environmental protections for communities that keep their air and water clean and protects them from pollution.
• Protects Key Public Health Funding: The agreement protects funding for key public health priorities to help prepare for future pandemics and possible COVID-19 surges— including $5 billion to accelerate the development of Next Gen vaccines.