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Transition:White House senior staff •Agency review teams •Certification of electoral votes •2020 presidential election

2024 election:Presidential election •Presidential candidates •Kamala Harris presidential campaign •Joe Biden presidential campaign

PresidentJoe Biden (D) signed theFiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 into law on June 3, 2023. This bill raised the debt ceiling.^[1][2] The House voted 314-117 to approve the bill on May 31, 2023, and the Senate voted 63-36 to approve the bill on June 1.^[2] Treasury SecretaryJanet Yellen estimated that the government would shut down if the debt ceiling was not raised by June 5, 2023.^[3]

According to the Congressional Research Service, "When total federal spending exceeds total federal revenue, it produces a budget deficit. When faced with a deficit, the Department of the Treasury typically issues debt in order to obtain the funds necessary to finance current federal obligations. The amount of money that Treasury may borrow, however, is restricted by a statutory limit on the debt (referred to as the debt limit or debt ceiling)." In the last 40 years, Congress has passed 48 laws related to the debt ceiling. About 40% of these bills were stand-alone legislation that only contained provisions to raise or suspend the debt ceiling, while the other 60% were attached to a bill with provisions addressing other subjects.^[4]

The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 fell into the latter category. Key measures of the bill included:^[5]

• Suspending the debt ceiling until January 2025.
• Capping non-defense spending at $704 billion for fiscal year 2024. Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare spending would be excluded from this cap. Defense spending would be capped at $886 billion in fiscal year 2024.
• Rescinding about $30 billion of unspent coronavirus relief funding.
• Rescinding $1.4 billion of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) funding. It would also move $20 billion of the $80 billion allocated to the agency in theInflation Reduction Act of 2022 to non-defense funds.
• Enhancing work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program (TANF).
• Simplifying environmental reviews for energy projects.
• Ending thestudent loan debt repayment pause in August 2023.

This page provides the following information about the bill:

• Timeline: Key dates and votes relating to the resolution's adoption.
• Roll call votes on the bill
• Text of the bill: The text of the bill as introduced in the 118th Congress.

Timeline

• June 3, 2023: President Biden signed the bill into law.^[1]
• June 1, 2023: The Senate voted 63-36 to approve the bill.^[2]
• May 31, 2023: The House voted 314-117 to approve the bill.^[6]
• May 29, 2023: Rep.Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) introduced the bill in the House of Representatives.^[2]
• May 22, 2023: President Biden and congressional leadership began negotiating a debt ceiling bill.^[7]

Roll calls

Senate vote on passage (June 1, 2023)

The Senate voted 63-36 to pass the bill on June 1, 2023.^[6]

• Forty-four Democrats and one independent who caucuses with Democrats voted yes.
• Thirty-one Republicans voted no.
• Seventeen Republicans voted yes.
• Four Democrats and one independent who caucuses with Democrats voted no.
• One independent Senator, Sen.Kyrsten Sinema (I), voted yes.
• One Republican, Sen.Bill Hagerty (R), did not vote.

House vote on passage (May 31, 2023)

The House voted 314-117 to pass the bill on May 31, 2023.^[6]

• 165 Democrats voted yes.
• 149 Republicans voted yes.
• Seventy-one Republicans voted no.
• Forty-six Democrats voted no.
• Two Republicans, Reps.Lauren Boebert (R) andJim Banks (R), did not vote.
• Two Democrats, Reps.Angie Craig (D andDeborah Ross (D), did not vote.

Text of the bill

The section below provides the text of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 as introduced on May 29, 2023.

Key legislation during Biden administration

This section provides links to coverage of key federal legislation considered during theBiden administration. To be included, the bill must have met several of the following qualifying factors:

• Collaboration between the president and congressional leadership on the bill
• Use of the reconciliation process to pass the bill
• Changes to the congressional procedure to pass the bill
• Estimated cost of the bill as evaluated by theCongressional Budget Office
• Extent of public relations campaign to promote the bill
• Domestic and international policy ramifications

Legislation in the 118th Congress

• H.R.815: Making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes.
• Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023
• H.J.Res.7: Relating to a national emergency declared by the President on March 13, 2020.
• H.J.Res.30: Providing for congressional disapproval of the rule submitted by the Department of Labor relating to "Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights"

Legislation in the 117th Congress

• Respect for Marriage Act of 2022
• Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022
• Inflation Reduction Act of 2022
• Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022
• Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act (amendment to H.R. 5746: NASA Enhanced Use Leasing Extension Act of 2021)
• American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
• Build Back Better Act
• Congressional Budget Resolution for Fiscal Year 2022
• For the People Act of 2021
• Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021

See also

• Joe Biden presidential administration
• Inflation Reduction Act of 2022
• Biden Administration Student Loan Debt Relief Plan (2022)
• H.J.Res.7: Relating to a national emergency declared by the President on March 13, 2020
• 118th Congress

Footnotes