1. House MAGA Republicans will be less of a force

It was supposed to be their ace in the hole, their single biggest bargaining leverage. But in the end, House Maga Republicans got surprisingly little out of their agreement to increase the debt ceiling.

Yes, they were irresponsible. They manufactured a debt crisis out of whole cloth. They played a reckless hostage-taking game. They could have wrecked the full faith and credit of the United States. They demanded spending cuts that would have hurt lots of vulnerable Americans.

President Joe Biden celebrated a “crisis averted” in his inaugural speech to the nation from the Oval Office Friday evening, ready to sign a budget agreement that eliminates the potential for a first-ever government default that would have sent shock waves through the U.S. and global economies.

President Joe Biden on Friday evening gave his first address from the Oval Office to discuss a bill to lift the debt ceiling while capping federal spending, calling it a “critical” agreement. He plans to sign the bill Saturday.

“No one got everything they wanted but the American people got what they needed. We averted an economic crisis and an economic collapse,” Biden said.

President Joe Biden reiterated Friday night that neither party got "everything" they wanted in the debt ceiling negotiations but argued it was "critical" to reach an agreement to avoid a national default.

Biden delivered a prime-time address at 7 p.m. from the Oval Office detailing the "crisis averted" last week.

Biden, who confirmed that he will sign the debt ceiling bill into law on Saturday, opened by pushing back on the notion that bipartisanship in Washington is waning.

Wall Street signaled relief Friday following Congress' passage of a bill to suspend the debt ceiling through 2024 and avert an economy-cratering default. Investors received another jolt with a better-than-expected jobs report.

In a significant surge, the Dow Jones Industrial Average experienced an uptick of 701 points, for more than a 2% gain. The S&P 500 displayed a notable climb of 1.45%, while the Nasdaq Composite achieved a commendable advancement of 1.07% to its highest peak since April 2022.

Some Republicans aren’t enthused about the debt-ceiling deal that Speaker Kevin McCarthy brokered with President Biden—not enough spending cuts, too few policy concessions. But one reason the deal is worth passing: The provisions on work and welfare are incremental progress the GOP can build on.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act makes several changes to social safety net programs, notably food stamps. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program imposes a three-month limit on able-bodied adults under age 50 without dependent children—unless they work or train 20 hours a week.

Republicans are defending changes to work requirements for recipients of food stamps included in a legislative deal hashed out by GOP leadership and the White House to raise the debt limit, challenging estimates that show the push could ultimately lead to more spending for the program.

As part of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, both sides have agreed to tighten work requirements by raising the age threshold for recipients subject to the rules, as well as some exemptions for certain groups, including veterans and those experiencing homelessness.

Work requirements for federal assistance programs do not, well, work.

“Stable employment among recipients subject to work requirements proved the exception, not the norm,” according to a 2016 review of the evidence on work requirements for safety-net programs by the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “The large majority of individuals subject to work requirements remained poor, and some became poorer.”

President Biden is expected to sign legislation that suspends the debt ceiling and curbs federal spending as early as Friday, and plans to deliver remarks from the White House on the bipartisan measure that will avert an unprecedented U.S. government default.

The White House has announced that Biden will speak from the Oval Office on Friday at 7 p.m. Eastern. In a tweet late Thursday, Biden said he plans to sign the bill into law “as soon as possible.”

The debt ceiling battle of 2023 was full of sound and fury, and signified ... well, not nothing, exactly, but not very much.

Despite heated rhetoric over hostage-taking and talk of default, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy arrived at a relatively normal budget deal reached with the help of an imminent deadline.

The deal passed the House in an overwhelming bipartisan vote Wednesday night, and the Senate by a vote of 63 to 36 Thursday night.