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Kevin McCarthy Has a Message Now That He's Gotten Debt Ceiling Passed

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  April 27, 2023 10:15 AM

On Wednesday evening, the House passed the debt ceiling bill known as the Limit, Save, Grow Act by a vote of 217-215. There had been doubts, especially from the press, that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) would get the votes needed, but he did. House Republican leadership believed they could get their plan passed, and they did. McCarthy has a message now for the press, and for President Joe Biden and the Democrats who have been dragging their feet.

"‘You’ve underestimated us’: How McCarthy’s horse-trading stopped a GOP revolt in debt fight," read CNN's headline from Wednesday night, in reference to the speaker's comments to the press. 

Here's how the report described McCarthy's comments after the bill passed, as well as some of how it got there:

“We are the only ones to lift the debt limit to make sure this economy is not in jeopardy,” McCarthy beamed in the Capitol’s ornate Statuary Hall moments after the gavel came down, calling on President Joe Biden to negotiate a spending-cut deal he has resisted for months. He added: “You’ve underestimated us.”

It was an effort that was months in the making. Immediately after securing the speakership in a messy, 15-ballot race, McCarthy made the concerted decision to avoid the pitfalls of a predecessor, John Boehner, and allow rank-and-file members to feel like they could shape the ultimate package rather than being steamrolled by leadership. A dozen listening sessions were held by two members of his whip team, Reps. Tom Emmer of Minnesota and Guy Reschenthaler of Pennsylvania, starting in February and continuing with them calling every member through this past weekend. Then there were regular meetings of the so-called “five families” – nicknamed after the mob families in “The Godfather” – that represent various ideological factions of the conference and were led by Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana.

...

Republicans say the deal-cutting that has since transpired was the result of new relationships forged from McCarthy’s drawn-out fight for the speaker’s gavel in January.

“Absolutely, it has reaped benefits to everyone in the conference,” Rep. French Hill, a Republican of Arkansas, said of the relationships that were formed.

The report also goes in-depth about the changes made and deals cut to get members of the Iowa delegation on board, who were deeply concerned with ethanol and biofuel provisions. The report also highlights how he was able to negotiate is another win for McCarthy, and the Iowa members who got what they wanted:

But even after they had agreed to an outline of their deal last week, McCarthy continued to run into pitfalls. In a meeting last week in the basement of the Capitol, he and his team moved to appease conservatives who wanted to target tax breaks for biofuels in the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act. McCarthy agreed, prompting a furious pushback by Iowa Republicans, including a tense phone call between Gov. Kim Reynolds and McCarthy.

It was an issue that could have derailed the bill and one that put McCarthy in familiar crosshairs between competing factions of his conference. But he ultimately cut a deal past 2 a.m. on Wednesday and helped move closer to securing the votes more than 15 hours later.

“They realized that you were not going to be able to steamroll four people from Iowa,” said Rep. Zach Nunn, an Iowa freshman, referring to the four GOP members of the delegation.

Thursday morning headlines are lauding McCarthy as well. "As promised, McCarthy got the votes," was the subject of The Hill's Morning Report. "How Kevin McCarthy proved his naysayers wrong," was the subject of POLITICO's Playbook morning edition, which has finally taken a step back, at least for now, from their obsession with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who is expected to announce his presidential run soon. 

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McCarthy must now deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and the president. The bill is expected to be dead-on-arrival in the Democratically-controlled Senate. However, as Spencer highlighted on Tuesday evening, the Democrats were just fine with 2022 spending levels; they even bent over backward to laud such levels. Now the White House is demonizing Republicans for a plan that they claim will give kids asthma and "quite literally melt bones." This plan from Republicans would cap federal discretionary spending at those 2022 fiscal year levels.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre--who just like the president is always blaming someone else, especially when that means the dreaded MAGA--claimed during Tuesday's press briefing that it was "Speaker McCarthy and the MAGA wing of the Republican party that is doing this," when asked why the president wasn't meeting with the speaker. 

In response to the bill passing the House, the White House's response knee-jerk response was to highlight how they had no interest in it. "White House slams passage of House GOP debt limit bill: ‘No chance of becoming law’," read a headline from The Hill not long after the bill passed. 

McCarthy's message was not merely for the press, but more importantly for Schumer and Biden as well. 

"You said at the very beginning we had to show you a plan, even though the Democrats have shown no plan. Not only did we show you a plan, we're the only ones to pass a plan. So I think it's up to you now, whether the economy goes in any trouble, it's you, 'cause Republicans have raised the debt limit. You have not. Neither has Schumer," the speaker said. 

"Schumer" has been trending on Twitter late Wednesday and Thursday morning in part as a result of the Senate majority leader's meeting with Elon Musk, but also as McCarthy and other House Republicans call him out and urge him to negotiate.