McCarthy’s debt limit deal is under threat from far-right members

Speaker’s Summary: “This is the First Time I’m Trying to Win a House Bill that does cut spending” Assembly Speaker Thomas Massie, R-Ky., Tuesday afternoon

The Treasury Department has said the United States may run out of money to pay bills by June 5, and that there may be a weekend vote to get the legislation passed.

Another conservative, Rep. Tom Massie, R-Ky., who was seen as a potential third vote to block the bill, said he anticipates “voting for this rule.” He said members of the Rules panel who decide whether a bill moves to a full vote on the House floor owe the rest of Congress “an honest shake” and opportunity to voice their opinion with a vote on the House floor.

If three GOP members join with Democrats, they could derail the deal. Democratic members could also decide to support the legislation since President Biden sealed the debt deal.

On Tuesday afternoon the House Rules Committee will meet. The speaker’s bills are usually drafted by the panel, which is made up of both Republicans and Democrats.

“This is probably the first bill in 10 years that I’ve ever been able to vote for that actually does cut spending. In the Rules Committee, we had a hearing — I asked every Democrat, every Republican who testified, does it cut spending? They know that it does. “So it is the first chance in a decade, and I’m not missing it,” the Kentucky Republican said.

The Main Street Caucus is chaired by a Republican, and he believes compromise legislation can still pass the House.

The fact that conservative GOP — and progressive Democratic — lawmakers aren’t happy with the final compromise deal isn’t entirely surprising. Top congressional leaders as well as President Biden said that no one would walk away completely satisfied. Casar told All Things Considered Tuesday that a number of his caucus are in favor of opposing the bill because of the spending cuts. “We have to hold the line against people getting screwed, getting kicked off of vital food programs, getting kicked off of their child core assistance, losing health care or losing housing,” Casar said. The group believes that there could have been savings if tax loopholes had been closed for wealthy taxpayers.

“With a narrow majority in the House, we got the most conservative outcome we possibly could,” the North Carolina Republican said. I would have liked to have got more, but what we have here is better than what was about to happen.

The bill is 99 pages and will raise nondefense spending by 1% in 25 years, keeping it at current levels. It also sets spending caps for the federal budget, raises the age of food stamp recipients subject to work requirements and claws back funding for the Internal Revenue Service, among other things. Some conservatives in the House argued the scale of cuts weren’t in line with an earlier partisan bill to raise the debt ceiling that House Republicans passed in April.

The agreement between McCarthy and Biden would raise the nation’s debt ceiling for nearly two years and avoid a historic government debt default.

It was suggested by comments from the caucus that members’ displeasure over the bill could lead to a motion to vacillate, a concession McCarthy made in January in his quest to become speaker.

Roy argued there was a “breach” in the structure set up by House Republicans after the January vote to elect McCarthy as speaker. The speaker did not mention him, but he made clear that there was going to be a reckoning regardless of what happened.

The Republican conference has been “torn under,” according to Texas Rep. Chip Roy of the Freedom Caucus. “Not one Republican should vote for this deal – not one.”

The deal fails and that’s why those in the caucus will do all they can to stop it, according to the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus.

After weeks of negotiations between the White House and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the House is set to vote Wednesday night on a compromise bill to lift the debt ceiling, as lawmakers race against the clock to avoid an unprecedented default that could come as early as June 5.

There are defections from the right and left that the bill appears to be on track to pass. The House Rules Committee voted by a narrow margin Tuesday evening to clear a major procedural hurdle.

House Republicans emerged from a closed-door conference meeting late Tuesday night signaling the “majority of the majority” of their conference will ultimately support the bill.

Reply to “Comment on ‘Cosmically bad'” House Speaker Corbett McCarthy’s “Whereas” Measure”

On Tuesday, members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus slammed the deal, arguing it doesn’t go far enough on spending cuts and doesn’t align closely enough with a bill they passed in April.

I know where the American people are so I don’t think it made me change my mind. The American people want to see us cut spending. This bill does not do that,” she said as she left the meeting. She said talk of a motion to vacate the speaker is “premature.”

Roy and Dan Bishop of North Carolina are members of the Freedom Caucus, and they wouldn’t discuss McCarthy’s future as speaker with reporters.

The conservative Representative from Tennessee, who opposed the speakership, said he has been pleased with McCarthy’s leadership.

It’s not a reflection on McCarthy if you aren’t happy with the deal or try to make it better. It is a reflection on the package’s specifics.

South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman, another Freedom Caucus member who initially held out against McCarthy, said discussions about a motion to vacate were unfair to the speaker.

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, co-founder of the Freedom Caucus, said he was confident the bill would get a majority of Republican votes and called the motion to vacate a “terrible idea.”

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greeny told reporters that she was undecided but would vote for the bill. She praised the deal’s spending cuts: “Absolutely amazing. When we have a few seats in Congress it’s very hard to do that.

Thomas Massie said that he told members in the meeting that he was glad they had enough time to read the bill because it took 2.5 to get to yes.

He said that the private meeting put a blanket on the motion for vacating because some members said they would not vote for the bill but support McCarthy.

“Look, I was a part of all three efforts to get rid of [former Speaker] John Boehner. I co-wrote that motion to vacate with Mark Meadows,” he said. It’s on the wall and has a frame on it. There are at least eight “Whereas” clauses that describe a train of grievances. There’s not a long train of grievances [here]. You don’t punch the umpire in the first inning, right? Like, OK, you didn’t like the call. Get in there and play ball and then we’ll find out if the ump is any good or not.”

Donalds said he’s with McCarthy but he’s not a fan of the bill. We’re going to be with him.

The bill’s new work requirements and environmental provisions are unpopular with many House Democrats. Several members toldNPR they were unsure about how they would vote on Wednesday.

I’ve talked to people from the White House. They know what my concerns are,” she said Tuesday afternoon. There’s another 24 hours.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/31/1178999244/debt-ceiling-house-vote

How many votes is it going to be negotiated by the House Minority Causal Electoral Representative Hakeem Jeffries?

Although it’s expected that a bloc of moderate Democrats will support the bill, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries signaled Tuesday that members could wait on the floor to see how many Republicans support it before offering up their votes.

How many votes are going to be negotiated by the Republicans is something that we all want to know. Initially, we heard that 95% of the House Republican conference supports this agreement. He said that the case doesn’t seem to be the case. “It’s my expectation that House Republicans will keep their commitment to produce at least two-thirds of their conference, which is approximately 150 votes.”