WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled House is poised to vote Wednesday on the debt ceiling legislation negotiated by Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden, a high-stakes moment for the bill aimed at averting a disastrous default.
The McCarthy-Biden agreement has been heavily criticized by hard-liners in the GOP who have argued its conservative provisions and spending cuts are too weak. However, the House Rules Committee, voting 7-6, sent the measure to floor on Tuesday night. This was a major signal of support before Wednesday’s vote.
McCarthy, R. California, told reporters on Tuesday that he was confident the bill would pass.
The bill would then go to the Democratically-led Senate where 60 votes would be needed before it reached Biden. Both Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have endorsed the bill.
The White House is urging a swift passage of this measure, as the U.S. approaches the Monday deadline for addressing the debt ceiling. Failure to do so could lead to an economically devastating default. The agreement includes a 2-year extension of the debt ceiling paired with a 2-year budget that contains modest spending reductions.
House Republican leaders are expecting to lose votes. Most likely, they will lose votes from hard right members. They say that the deal doesn’t go far enough to reduce spending to win their approval. It will take some Democrats to bring it all together, even though Democratic leaders claim that the primary responsibility lies with Republicans.
Hakeem Jeffreys, House Minority Leader, D-N.Y. told reporters on Tuesday that he expected the House Republicans to keep their promise of producing at least two thirds of their conference – approximately 150 votes. “Democrats will do their part to avoid default.”
Jeffries would not say how many Democrats will vote in favor of the bill. However, he is confident that the country can extend its debt ceiling on time.
McCarthy said that he hadn’t talked to Jeffries to determine how many Democratic votes McCarthy would need. However, he did say he expected the final vote on Wednesday to be bipartisan.
McCarthy stated that “Anytime there is an agreement between two parties, at the end there are always two parties voting for it.”
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said that he was “a yes vote”, and predicted “a supermajority of House GOP members” would support the legislation. He said, “It is a reasonable bill and it’s responsibly.”
Bacon stated that “our only rule was that the majority of the majorities” must support any bill before McCarthy can bring it up for a vote. Bacon added that it would get “a lot” more than half the conference.
The bill would limit spending for the next 2 years. The legislation includes conservative measures to claw back $28 billion in Covid relief funds that have not been spent, eliminate $1.4 million in IRS funding and move roughly $20 billion from the $80 billionthe IRS received through the Inflation Reduction Act towards non-defense funding.
The bill would also resume federal student loan repayments following a long pause that started at the beginning of the pandemic. It would also add requirements for work to people under 55 years of age to receive benefits from the Supplemental Food Assistance Program or Temporary Aid for Needy Families. (The current threshold for eligibility is 50 years).
The hard-right members ripped into the measure.
Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) said that conservative policy provisions are “fictionalized changes” and insignificant. He argued that the “clean” extension of debt limits with no substantive policy changes was a concession to Biden.
Bishop said, “There’s nothing in it.” He also criticized the agreement’s provision that extends the debt ceiling by two years to the next presidential elections. If you’re going do tacitly an clean debt ceiling, keep it short.
Mike Lee, R. Utah, and other senators, who are against the bill, could use procedural tools to delay it past the deadline of Monday. Schumer has urged members to act fast to avoid default.
Schumer stated that he would bring the bill to the Senate floor for consideration as soon as it arrived. “Senators need to be ready to act quickly to get a final bill to the President’s desk by the June 5 deadline.”
Alexandra Bacallao and Kate Santaliz contributed.
