Tipsheet

Here's Another Red Flag About the Looming Debt Ceiling Deal

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  May 31, 2023 4:35 PM

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy’s debt ceiling deal is heading to the House floor for a vote, having passed the House Rules Committee last night on a 7-6 vote. Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-KY) support assured passage, but now comes the stressful task of vote counting. And for that, McCarthy will be leaning on House Democrats, who have no vested interest in seeing him succeed, to bail him out. House Republicans are split on this bill, which raises the debt ceiling by $4 trillion over two years with meager spending cuts. Republicans only have a slim five-seat majority in the House, and the “nay” votes are stacking up. And while some are arguing that this is the greatest conservative spending victory in recent memory, let’s not forget that McCarthy was reportedly the one who pitched the $4 trillion figure, not the Democrats. Daily Beast reports that congressional Democrats largely view this deal as a win for them and are waiting to rub it in the faces of their Republican colleagues: 


On the brink of voting for a bipartisan deal to avert a devastating economic collapse, Democrats appear to have a deliberate strategy: keep it cool. 

Don’t gloat. Don’t brand the compromise legislation as a win. Don’t brag about the spending cuts and policy changes Republicans failed to squeeze in, even as they held the U.S. economy hostage in order to succeed. 

For Democratic lawmakers, that essential task isn't hard. Very few, if any, view the bill—which raises the government’s debt limit in exchange for spending cuts and other GOP priorities—as a complete win. Plenty are still steaming about the fact that President Joe Biden negotiated in the first place. 

But many Democrats—even those who have been most vocally upset about the process and might still vote no on the bill—are having a hard time resisting the urge to stick it to Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

After making lofty promises to his party to secure deep spending cuts and claw back Biden’s legislative achievements, McCarthy is facing internal heat for falling short. Dozens of GOP lawmakers are promising to vote against the bill; several are openly blaming McCarthy for capitulating to the White House. 

But if Democrats are going to grin and bear a vote on this compromise legislation, McCarthy’s predicament is giving them at least a little reason to smile as well. 

Progressives, like Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) said McCarthy came out looking “like a total fool” after his talks with Biden, even though he is leaning no on the bill; Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), who is undecided, said the president “kicked McCarthy's butt.” 

[…] 

Although Democrats are unhappy they’re paying any sort of price for a debt limit increase, the compromise is far from the House GOP’s initial offer, which would have cut $4.8 trillion over a decade, according to the CBO, by targeting a number of progressive priorities. 

[…] 

Heading into Wednesday’s critical vote, McCarthy has already lost dozens of critical Republican votes. On Tuesday, he spent a late-night conference meeting working to sway members who were on the fence or already defecting that he hadn’t, in fact, given away too much. 

Those numbers leave McCarthy counting on the support of at least a couple dozen Democrats to save the package. Although some progressives have offered generous assessments of Biden’s negotiating skills Tuesday, they still remain the most likely defectors.

On principle, it’s not the best bill. The problem is that defaulting on the debt is also not an option. However, some conservative Republicans hoped that McCarthy would use the bill House GOP members already passed to raise the debt ceiling, which the Left viewed as anathema in a ‘take it or leave it’ ploy. That didn’t happen, and now we have McCarthy at the mercy of liberal Democrats, which is never a good thing though the GOP somehow manages to land themselves in these positions. House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said he would support the deal, so we'll see if that sways some fence-sitters as the vote to officially bring this bill to the floor has begun.

UPDATE: Maybe it did. The rule vote passed, thanks to House Democrats. We now await one-hour of debate, which is set to begin at 7:15pm.