Update:
The House on Wednesday afternoon voted 219-210 vote to approve the rule governing debate on the bill to raise the debt ceiling, thus clearing a procedural hurdle. Potential holdouts, such as Reps. Nancy Mace (R-SC) and George Santos (R-NY) have also communicated they are in favor of the plan.
Nancy Mace, who had been saying for days she is leaning no on debt limit bill bc it doesn’t cut debt and also pulls back on green energy tax credits, including this AM (below), just told reporters she’s a YES bc of commitments McCarthy made on balancing budget, per @alaynatreene https://t.co/WLHzLtRF9N
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) April 26, 2023
From colleague Liz Elkind. From the office of GOP NY Rep Santos on debt ceiling bill: "He is a yes and is pleased with the changes made this morning.”
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) April 26, 2023
Original:
Following a Tuesday night House Rules Committee session that went into the early hours of Wednesday morning, some changes have been made to the debt ceiling bill, known as the Limit, Save, Grow Act. Iowa House members in particular had been concerned about the elimination of ethanol tax credits. Changes now include biofuel tax credits and public assistance work requirements.
Such changes addressing ethanol concerns look to have worked.
B) Alford: We brought that to the attention of speaker McCarthy, great deference and understanding. He came back with a proposal that we were willing to accept and move forward with. We've got to get this over the finish line.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) April 26, 2023
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Another media narrative has been Republican holdouts, though, which could include Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Nancy Mace (R-SC), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Tim Burchett (R-TN) and George Santos (R-NY). House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) can only afford to lose four Republicans, assuming all Democrats vote against the bill.
The bill at least does have support though from members such as Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), who sits on the House Rules Committee. He was instrumental in negotiations that saw McCarthy become speaker on the 15th round, as communicated in his Tuesday op-ed for The Federalist.
He's also defended the process they're currently using given that they are "having to move quickly" on such an urgent issue.
"[Regular order is] always my preference, but remember about this bill, right? ... out of the last 22 debt ceiling increases two went through a committee"
— Nate Madden (@NateOnTheHill) April 25, 2023
"We're also having to move quickly, because we've got Yellen now saying we've got to bump the time up, in part, because of… https://t.co/kAJhY8BSa1
A unified Republican Party on the debt ceiling is even more crucial given the opposition from Democrats, not only among House Democrats, but especially in the Democratically-controlled Senate. A Spencer highlighted on Tuesday night, though, such opposition is even more ridiculous given their strong support in 2022.
"The bill is almost guaranteed to be dead-on-arrival in a Senate controlled by Democrats, but it would serve as an important bargaining chip in the partisan fight over the size and scope of federal spending — and how aggressively to attack deficits during the budget debate later in the year. But GOP leaders only get the chip if they can rally their own troops behind the measure," is how The Hill's Morning Report put it.
The White House has also been extreme in its fearmongering on the bill as well as claims that "it's the Speaker McCarthy and the MAGA wing of the Republican Party" who are the ones to blame when President Joe Biden has given McCarthy the slip.
REPORTER: "Speaker McCarthy says he wants to meet with Biden. Why hasn't that happened?"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 25, 2023
KJP: "It's the Speaker McCarthy and the MAGA wing of the Republican party that is doing this. We're not doing this...They're doing this!" pic.twitter.com/mKDePwUVim
While many Wednesday morning reports are wondering whether or not McCarthy has the votes, leadership believes that they do. The bill is expected to head to the floor on Wednesday afternoon.
2) “We’ll see after this,” said one confidante of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). “But I think we could have muscled (the bill) through.”
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) April 26, 2023
4) Fox is told to expect the House to debate the “rule” (which tees up the bill for actual debate) around noon et. That debate should be feisty.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) April 26, 2023
5) If things go according to plan, the House could debate and vote on the bill in the late afternoon. Passage would likely come this evening.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) April 26, 2023
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