What did all that debt ceiling drama actually accomplish?

“The 360” shows you diverse perspectives on the day’s top stories and debates.

What’s happening

With the nation days away from a potential economic catastrophe, the Senate on Thursday gave final approval to a deal to lift the debt ceiling, which allows the government to continue paying interest on debt it has already accumulated and avoid the economy-wrecking default that would occur if the ceiling weren’t raised. Republicans had used the risk of default — which experts say would cause a massive recession — to force Democrats to accept spending cuts they oppose.

In the end, Republicans were able to convince the White House to agree to relatively modest cuts to nonmilitary spending along with provisions like expanded work requirements for government food assistance programs and a reduction in funding for the Internal Revenue Service — even though those cuts will actually increase the debt by allowing more tax cheating. (Republicans also want to increase the debt by $3.5 trillion over the next decade by renewing the Trump-era tax cuts.) While those changes aren’t insignificant, they represent just a small fraction of the massive cuts that were in a bill that passed through the Republican-led House of Representatives in late April.

Some of the most conservative members of the GOP have heavily criticized House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for failing to extract more substantial concessions, raising the risk that he may face a vote to strip him of his speakership in the near future. Some liberal Democrats have also faulted President Biden for abandoning his earlier stance of refusing to negotiate over the debt ceiling at all. Strong majorities of both parties voted in favor of the deal in the House, but just 17 of the 49 Republicans in the Senate supported it.

Why there’s debate

The most significant result of the debt ceiling fight is that the U.S. appears likely to avoid the cataclysmic economic impacts a default would bring, but commentators from across the political spectrum say the saga also serves as an important pivot point for the balance of power in Washington.

One key area of disagreement is over who “won” the debt ceiling debate. Many pundits make the case that Biden came out of the dispute on top because he was able to prevent any substantial cuts to programs at the center of his policy agenda — the IRS cuts are just one-quarter of the increased funding for the agency in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act, for example — and showed off the dealmaking prowess that’s at the heart of his pitch to voters. Others say Republicans, specifically McCarthy, scored a major victory by forcing the president to negotiate in the first place and securing a deal that could serve as a first step in a broader shift toward more conservative government spending. Some worry that by negotiating, Biden has given the GOP incentive to take the global economy hostage to win concessions again in the future.

What’s next

The deal raises the debt ceiling until early 2025, meaning there likely won’t be another standoff until after the next presidential election, but in just a few months the parties will need to agree to a budget or face the prospect of a government shutdown.

Perspectives

The weakness of the GOP’s far-right flank was put on full display

“Let’s take a lesson away from this episode. The Freedom Caucus is a bunch of bullies. And we’ve known since Beaver Cleaver finally stood up to Lumpy Rutherford that once you call a bully out, he backs down. The Biden White House should take note. These people can be rolled.” — Michael Tomasky, New Republic

Republicans in Congress showed they can be a powerful force if they remain united

“The deal is a significant victory for GOP priorities, in return for raising the debt ceiling that had to be raised anyway. Mr. Biden tried to jam the GOP into a clean debt increase, but Republicans forced him to the table. … The lesson is that political unity pays.” — Editorial, Wall Street Journal

Even small cuts to spending count as a major win for the GOP

“Politically, this is an unambiguous win for McCarthy and House Republicans, who were expected to get nothing, and an unambiguous defeat for Joe Biden, who promised that House Republicans would get nothing. It also shows that Democrats on the Hill are just bystanders now on any issue that requires the affirmative consent of the House.” — Dan McLaughlin, National Review

Biden showed the reasonable, skillful leadership that voters want in a president

“There will be no default, no confusing unilateral measure, no reliance on Supreme Court approval and no government shutdown in the fall. For no-drama Joe, that’s a far better outcome. It reminds voters why they liked him in the first place and might be inclined to vote for him in November 2024.” — Michael A. Cohen, MSNBC

Poor Americans will suffer because Biden caved to the GOP’s hostage taking

“The second that Joe Biden agreed to negotiate with House Republicans on the debt ceiling, the results were going to be bad. The people who benefit most from government action — the poor and the vulnerable — were going to be hurt, and those who benefit most from a weakened government — the rich and the powerful — were going to be aided. The only question was the degree.” — David Dayen, American Prospect

The fight proved that the debt ceiling must be eliminated as soon as possible

“Biden proved something that Democrats should already have known. As long as the debt ceiling exists, there is no way to avoid negotiating over the debt ceiling. The various workarounds that have been proposed … carry too much legal and market risk. The way to get rid of the debt ceiling is to get rid of the debt ceiling. Democrats should have done that when they held power in 2021 and 2022. They should prioritize it when they next get a chance.” — Ezra Klein, New York Times

No one wins when lawmakers play political games with the fate of the economy at stake

“In political terms, maybe nobody ‘won’ because the whole thing was just futile, stupid, and dangerous. And in the end, nobody was completely happy because it was that nearly extinct phenomenon: an actual compromise.” — Charlie Sykes, Bulwark

The only thing that matters is that the economy was saved

“Whether the deal is good or bad is irrelevant. It’s the only deal. The alternative is chaos. Republicans have succeeded in holding the nation hostage, and now we must pay the ransom that’s been negotiated.” — Robert Reich, Guardian

The entire saga will just keep repeating itself now that the GOP knows it will work in its favor

“What will happen the next time a Democratic president needs a Republican House to lift the debt ceiling? There is no reason the ransom demand will be small. … The next round of demands will likely cut deeper into anti-poverty programs that were spared this time. Or possibly, Republicans will creatively demand concessions on immigration, abortion, or any other social issue that has seized their imagination at the moment.” — Jonathan Chait, New York

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Photo illustration: Jack Forbes/Yahoo News; photos: Drew Angerer/Getty Images, Chris Kleponis/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images