This is also very bad for those who receive federal financial aid to pay off their financial expenses. The cuts will tremendously impact the number of Pell Grants being awarded to and the Subsidized/Perkins Loans could see even higher interest rates.
For the specific numbers, the bill in the Senate passed by a resounding 89-9 - that is about as bipartisan as you can get.
Patrick, although I agree with your post, it really doesn't matter if something passes now, because this entire fiasco has just been postponed until the end of February. Congress will continue its role of doing almost nothing until a few weeks before the debt ceiling deadline, and then this fight will happen all over again. And again when they postpone it at the last minute in April. Then June. And so on. Unless we can really address the United State's spending addiction and debt issue with a well-thought out and long term solution, this is now going to be a regular - and ugly - political event.
Finally, yes, taxes went up for everybody. Everyone here is going to see taxes up at least 2% out of their income checks now. The taxes for incomes above $400,000 a year went up as well. Unfortunately, spending has still not been addressed. Let's face it, people, not everyone is going to like what is eventually going to be proposed to be cut - especially if it involves federal aid. Reducing our spending is going to hurt a lot of people, but at this point folks will have to just deal with it.
As to what is going to get cut, I strongly suspect Social Security is going to be a big, big issue, as it will be a major factor to our debt if it is not addressed. The proposed solution is to raise the eligibility age, which could save upwards of half a trillion dollars. Foreign aid is also an issue. Military spending has been on the table for decades. I suspect some social programs are going to be chopped as well. We have to find $16 trillion somewhere, and it's not going to come from just tax increases.
