Shai Akabas

Smucker’s Legislation Advances with Strong Bipartisan Support in Ways and Means Committee WASHINGTON—Legislation introduced by Rep. Lloyd Smucker (PA-11) has received approval in the House Ways and Means Committee and now heads to the House of Representatives for consideration.

This week, the House may consider a bill to rename Social Security's retirement claim ages, which could help retirees make more informed choices.

Social Security's benefit formula is confusing, and any move toward transparency is a step in the right direction.

smucker.house.gov/media/press-...

If this ever comes to a head, people will ask "why weren't we warned?" Well, we were. Repeatedly. S&P in 2011; Fitch in 2023; Moody's last Friday. Too many right now are content to whistle past the graveyard

Debt crises tend to happen gradually and then very quickly. It's impossible to know where on that timeline we might be, but I'd say 2010-2025 is certainly long enough for the first part.

🚨New Treasury letter to Hill calls on Congress to act by mid-July, saying there is a "reasonable probability" of exhausting extraordinary measures in August. @BPC_Bipartisan projection coming next week home.treasury.gov/system/files...

Bets on Treasury Defaults Are Performing Nicely: Heard on the Street The “Sell America” trade is hot. So is the “Short Uncle Sam” trade. Betting against U.S. Treasurys using credit-default swaps has been a big winner this year. The price of insuring five-year U.S. Trea...

Market odds that US is going to default on its debt are the highest they've been in 2 yrs (last debt limit episode) & higher than many other developed countries. Warning signs are flashing red and a possible upcoming debt limit battle is unlikely to help www.wsj.com/livecoverage...

Our own @shaiakabas.bsky.social on what he's paying attention to as Congress gets ready to extend government funding, and a conversation about the debt limit is bubbling up. 🧵

#debtlimit #debtceiling

Random factoid: Other than resignations/deaths in office, Reagan-George HW Bush will be the only successive presidents of the same party in 100 years

New letter from Secretary Yellen to Congress explains that the debt limit will be reinstated on Jan. 2, but due to technical reasons, Treasury will not reach the limit and begin extraordinary measures until a few weeks later (~Jan 13-24) home.treasury.gov/system/files...

Democrats’ Last Act Shouldn’t Be Expediting Social Security Insolvency While the Social Security Fairness Act may have some admirable goals, passing it now as written would undermine the future of Social Security — and backfire politically.

It would be a terrible mistake for Congress to repeal Social Security's Windfall Elimination Provision & Government Pension Offset on their way out the door. Bipartisan experts agree on reforming these provisions, not outright repeal www.forbes.com/sites/benrit...