McCarthy proposes $4.5 trillion in cuts, RFK Jr. launches presidential bid: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: McCarthy proposes $4.5 trillion in cuts

Paste BN White House Correspondent Joey Garrison reports on the standoff as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy proposes $4.5 trillion in cuts to avoid a debt ceiling crisis. Plus, a man pleads not guilty after shooting 16-year-old Ralph Yarl, RFK Jr. launches a presidential bid, the Supreme Court puts a pause to any action surrounding restrictions for a major abortion pill, and Florida bans the teaching of gender identity and sexuality through 12th grade.

Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more Paste BN podcasts right here.

Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Thursday, the 20th of April 2023. Today, proposed cuts as lawmakers try to avoid a debt ceiling crisis. Plus, a man pleads not guilty in the shooting of Ralph Yarl, and the Supreme Court temporarily holds off on deciding about a major abortion pill.

♦

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy unveiled a Republican debt ceiling plan yesterday with some $4.5 trillion in cuts that drew immediate resistance from President Joe Biden. I spoke with Paste BN White House Correspondent Joey Garrison to learn more. Hi Joey.

Joey Garrison:

Hey, thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

Thanks for coming back on. So House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has unveiled a Republican debt ceiling plan. What kind of cuts is he proposing?

Joey Garrison:

Well, for weeks now President Biden has said hey Republicans, House Speaker McCarthy, show us your plan. Speaker McCarthy did that and it would raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion, but in exchange Republicans in that same bill want a host of cuts that, as you said, add up to $4.5 trillion.

He went over some of the broad points and it includes is not surprisingly a number of things that you hear Republicans talk about, and that's rescinding Biden's Inflation Reduction Act to get rid of 87,000 IRS agents that the White House included in that package to go after essentially wealthy tax cheats who are getting around skirting tax laws. It would end tax incentives for companies that invest in green energy. McCarthy called this ending "green giveaways."

And it would also eliminate Biden's student loan forgiveness plan. That of course is the action, executive action that Biden took last summer to forgive student loan debt for millions of Americans. Now that, of course, was already held up in court, so it doesn't even look like it's going to go anyways. But getting rid of that is a popular Republican talking point.

It would also change work requirements in order to receive SNAP food stamps, it would essentially change the age eligibility for that. And then it touches on a host of other things to add up to that 4.5 trillion.

Taylor Wilson:

And what kind of chance, if any, does this proposal have across the House and the Senate?

Joey Garrison:

Well, it's not going to pass in Congress. It would seem to have a good shot perhaps in the House, which is controlled by Republicans, but it's not going to in the Senate. But really what McCarthy's doing here is he's kind of taking this standoff with Biden to the next step. Biden and the White House is refusing to even entertain spending cuts. McCarthy is saying hey, we're serious about this, we're not going to consider an increase to the death ceiling unless we get some spinning cuts. And so this is putting it on the paper for the White House.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah. You mentioned the Biden White House and their role in all of this. How did President Joe Biden respond directly to this plan?

Joey Garrison:

So McCarthy laid out his plan in a speech from the House floor. A couple of minutes later, President Biden was speaking at a union hall in Maryland where he directly addressed McCarthy's proposal. He, not surprisingly, immediately rejected entertaining any spending cuts, reiterating the position that he's had for some time.

And he said that McCarthy's plan isn't about fiscal discipline. It's about cutting benefits for folks that they don't seem to care much about. He kept describing a "MAGA" economic agenda, referring to, of course, Republicans tied to the former President Donald Trump, and argued that Republicans are, with their proposal, supporting tax cuts for the rich and at the expense of benefits that help the middle class and working Americans. So that's the line of attack that the White House is taking on this.

Taylor Wilson:

And Joey, can you just remind our listeners what would happen if the US were to default on its payments?

Joey Garrison:

It's something that would be really unprecedented and economists have warned that it could really set up an economic crisis, there could be a stock market crash. Some of them suggested that it could bring the country into recession, and with that you would have a rise likely of unemployment. So there's a number of repercussions that would happen.

Of course, both sides are saying this right now. You have McCarthy accusing Biden of risking the fiscal soundness of the country by refusing to negotiate, whereas Biden is accusing McCarthy of the same thing, that they're risking putting the country into economic crisis by not just raising the debt ceiling as has been done many times before, but instead trying to use it as leverage to get spending cuts that have long been a priority for Republicans. So you have both sides recognizing the seriousness of the situation, but right now, neither side is really flinching.

Taylor Wilson:

Joey Garrison, thanks as always.

Joey Garrison:

Okay, thanks a lot.

♦

Taylor Wilson:

The white homeowner charged in the shooting of Black teenager Ralph Yarl pleaded not guilty yesterday during his first court appearance. 84-year-old Andrew Lester was charged with first degree assault and armed criminal action before being released on $200,000 bond. Lester shot 16-year-old Yarl last week after he accidentally went to Lester's home while trying to pick up his brothers. It was one of several incidents where a young person was shot after being in the wrong place in recent weeks. In upstate New York, a 20-year-old woman, Kaylin Gillis, was killed after the car she was riding in pulled into the wrong driveway. The incidents have sparked a debate about the country's controversial self-defense laws, which differ from state to state. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.

♦

Robert F. Kennedy Jr launched his unlikely bid for the Democratic presidential nomination yesterday. And according to a Paste BN Suffolk University poll, he did so with the support of 14% of voters who backed President Joe Biden in 2020. RFK Jr is the son of Robert F. Kennedy Sr., who was assassinated as he campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968. And he's the nephew of President John F. Kennedy. Junior is an environmental lawyer, but has perhaps become best known for anti-vaccine stances that have been discredited in scientific studies.

♦

The Supreme Court has put a pause to any actions surrounding restrictions of the abortion pill mifepristone until the end of the week. At issue are restrictions on access to the drug, including a requirement that Americans sit for in-person visits with doctors, and a prohibition on the drug being distributed through the mail. Now those restrictions will continue to be on hold until at least 11:59 PM Friday. The latest order from Associate Justice Samuel Alito still does not signal which way the court is leaning.

♦

Florida's State Board of Education yesterday voted to prohibit classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation through 12th grade. The expansion of the Parental Rights in Education Act, known as the Don't Say Gay bill by critics, will only allow an exemption for sexual education or health lessons, which a student's parent can still have their child not attend. The move is the latest in Gov. Ron DeSantis' attack on what he calls "woke gender ideology." During this year's session, the Florida legislature is considering bills that would prohibit children from attending drag shows, require people to use the bathroom that corresponds to their sex at birth, and would ban gender-affirming care for minors.

Eid Mubarak, the end to Ramadan, will be marked this week, including today in some parts of the world, with the celebration of Eid al-Fitr. You can see photos from around the globe of the Muslim holy month on USATODAY.com.

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us each day of the week right here, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from Paste BN.