McCarthy predicts debt limit bill will ‘overwhelmingly’ clear key vote

Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy predicted a debt ceiling bill would “overwhelm” in the lower chamber of Congress as he raced to secure support for a bipartisan deal.

Wednesday’s vote in the House of Representatives will be a pivotal moment for McCarthy as he plays down a rebellion by members of his own party and tries to fend off critics who have questioned whether he is making a damaging default. Can proceed through law to stop.

“We will get through it tremendously,” McCarthy said in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday morning. “Governing is not easy. But I do not want to be on the wrong side of history.

The speaker’s prediction came after striking a deal in an hour-long closed-door meeting with House Republicans on Capitol Hill Tuesday night.

McCarthy announced over the weekend that he had reached an agreement with Joe Biden’s White House to suspend the debt ceiling until after next year’s presidential election. The deal limits federal spending for the next two years, speeds up the permitting process for large energy projects, cuts funding for the Internal Revenue Service and introduces new requirements for food stamps and other social safety net programs. does.

The deal needs to pass both chambers of Congress if it is to be signed into law before the Treasury runs out of money. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that if the debt ceiling is not raised, the government will run out of money and be unable to pay its obligations on June 5.

The bill cleared its first legislative hurdle late Tuesday, when the powerful House Rules Committee stamped the measure, sending it to the full House for consideration. The full House is expected to vote on the bill on Wednesday evening.

“God willing, by the time I land, Congress will have acted, the House will have acted, and we’ll be one step closer,” Biden said at the White House on Wednesday as he prepared to fly to Colorado. To come this evening.

McCarthy and the White House are upbeat about the prospect of passing the bill, even though critics from both parties have come out against the measure.

On the right, the hardline Freedom Caucus of House Republicans has attacked the deal for not cutting spending more. On the left, progressive Democrats, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Pramila Jayapal, have criticized Biden for acceding to Republican demands.

Because Republicans control the House by a razor-thin margin, and more than two dozen Republicans have already said they will vote against the bill, McCarthy will count on support from Democrats to bring the bill over the line.

The speaker’s whip count went up earlier this week when leaders of the New Democrat coalition, a group of about 100 centrist Democrats, said they were in favor of a compromise.

On Wednesday morning, the Problem Solvers Caucus, a group of 64 centrist lawmakers evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, said they too would support the bill.

The top Democrat in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, said Wednesday morning that he would support the bill “without hesitation, reservation or trepidation”: “Not because it’s perfect. But in divided government, we certainly want good for good.” Can’t let the enemy become.