Speaker Kevin McCarthy squeaked his debt limit bill through the House on Wednesday, winning a politically important victory that intensifies the standoff with the White House over averting a catastrophic US default.
(Bloomberg) — Speaker Kevin McCarthy squeaked his debt limit bill through the House on Wednesday, winning a politically important victory that intensifies the standoff with the White House over averting a catastrophic US default.
The vote, coming after days of arm twisting, puts pressure on President Joe Biden to open talks with Republicans over the debt limit as a payment default looms this summer. But as McCarthy shored up his votes on Wednesday, Biden signaled he remains unwilling to yield to GOP demands.
“I’m happy to meet with McCarthy, but not on whether or not the debt limit gets extended,” Biden said. “That’s not negotiable.”
The bill, which passed 217 to 215, is the Republican opening offer and has no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Embattled Representative George Santos of New York, who had been undecided, provided extra drama, waiting to be the last Republican to cast a vote and tipping the balance in favor. Four members of his party, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Ken Buck of Colorado and Tim Burchett of Tennessee, voted against the plan, along with every Democrat in the chamber.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement that the measure “cuts veterans’ health care, education, Meals on Wheels, and public safety, takes away health care from millions of Americans, and sends manufacturing jobs overseas.”
“The president,” she said, “has made clear this bill has no chance of becoming law.”
The US Treasury is to soon release a new estimate of when the department thinks the government will be at risk of default without raising the federal borrowing limit.
Analysts expect that date to be roughly around late July but have warned that sluggish tax-return revenues could move up the deadline to early June.
The McCarthy plan would increase the US debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion, which would stave off a US payments default until March 31, 2024 at the latest. In exchange, Republicans demand $4.8 trillion in budget cuts, defying Biden’s demands for a so-called “clean” debt ceiling increase.
“The president can no longer ignore by not negotiating,” McCarthy said. “We have done our job.”
He secured the votes to pass the measure after making middle-of-the-night concessions to factions within his party. Midwestern Republicans forced the speaker to restore biofuels tax breaks, while conservatives accelerated work requirements in food stamp and welfare programs to 2024.
Democrats said the bill — which would cut domestic agency funding by 22% if the Pentagon is spared — is so extreme that it cannot move talks forward.
“This is a ransom note,” said Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat. “They say that in order for us to pay our bills for one year, we have to make 10 years of deep cuts that will hurt our constituents.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said “Democrats cannot and will not allow the Republicans’ DOA Act to ever become law. It is DOA, plain and simple.”
For McCarthy, passing the bill allows him to quiet critics who have unfavorably compared him to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi who had a legendary ability to bend her caucus to her will.
McCarthy only became speaker after 15 rounds of voting at the start of the year and instituted a new process of dialogue between conservatives and moderates.
The talks on the substance of the debt bill were led by Louisiana Representative Garret Graves, who played a key role in adding energy and fossil fuel provisions to the proposal to win over conservatives, while sparing cuts to popular prescription drug provisions enacted last year.
French Hill, an Arkansas Republican, said passage of the bill moves the US closer to resolving the standoff because it has proven that Republicans can rally behind legislation.
“We have empowered Speaker McCarthy to go and negotiate,” added Representative Stephanie Bice of Oklahoma. “This brings them to the table. “
McCarthy needed to pass the bill to in order to have any serious leverage over Biden.
Josh Huder, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s governmental affairs institute, said McCarthy had “to demonstrate the House has its demands in order for the House to even be at the table.”
Failure to pass the measure would have left McCarthy and the House essentially “irrelevant” in the negotiations, Huder added.
McCarthy’s greatest test, however, is yet to come.
If he strikes a compromise with Biden or a looming default forces him to put a no-strings-attached bill up for a vote, he risks angering ultra-conservatives. A deal that falls short of their demands could set up a career-ending no-confidence vote on the floor.
–With assistance from Josh Wingrove.
(Updates with White House comment, starting in fifth paragraph.)
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