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1 President Biden Signs Debt Ceiling Bill Into Law
After a tense period of negotiations, President Joe Biden signed the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 into law on Saturday, extending the debt ceiling for two years and avoiding a potential default today. The Senate passed the bipartisan deal late Thursday with a 63-36 vote, just a day after the House passed the legislation with a vote of 314-117. The law claws back roughly $28 billion in unspent COVID relief funds, eliminates $1.4 billion in IRS funding, and shifts $20 billion of the money the IRS got from the Inflation Reduction Act to non-defense funding. Most importantly, the legislation suspends the public debt limit until January 1st, 2025, after the 2024 presidential election is done. The new law also restarts federal student loan payments and adds work requirements for people up to age 55 to get SNAP or TANF benefits.
2 Fighter Jets Scramble After Plane Enters Restricted Airspace In Washington, D.C. Area Yesterday
People were caught by surprise yesterday by a sonic boom in the Washington, D.C. area, with many hitting social media to complain that they should have been given a warning if there were going to be military exercises. It turned out that it was a true emergency situation, as fighter jets were scrambled to intercept a plane that entered restricted airspace near the nation’s capital and was unresponsive to communication attempts. The official statement from the North American Aerospace Defense Command said it was a Cessna 560 Citation V aircraft, and after being unresponsive it “crashed near the George Washington National Forest” in Virginia. There were reportedly four people on board the plane when it took off, and a U.S. official told ABC News that it appeared the pilot had “passed out.” Aviation experts speculated that the pilot fell victim to hypoxia, which happens when there’s not enough oxygen in the cabin. Searchers, including the Virginia State Police found no survivors. The FAA says plane took off from Elizabethon, Tennessee and was headed to for Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York.
3 Director’s Guild Reaches Agreement, WGA Still On Strike
The Directors Guild reached a tentative agreement on a three-year contract at the end of last week, issuing a statement saying that their new deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers “achieves major breakthroughs in addressing the international growth of the entertainment industry and makes significant gains across key economic and creative rights.” According to the DGA, the new agreement includes a 5% increase in wages and benefits in the first year, a 4% bump in year two, and a 3.5% increase in the third year, along with a 76% increase in foreign residuals, and language stating that AI isn’t a person and that it can’t replace the duties performed by members, along with other concessions. As the Writers Guild of America enters the second month of its strike, its members are saying that the two guilds had different issues, but while some say the DGA deal will have some impact on their needs, others are saying that it’s making them “more determined to fight for a fair deal for us,” and some are saying that the DGA turned on the WGA by agreeing to a deal.