Neither the right wing of the Republican Party nor some Democrats are happy with the deal President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) struck to raise the nation’s debt limit along with some policy reforms and the recovery of the expense
In one of the most colorful criticisms of the deal, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) characterized like a “sandwich” on Sunday morning, then swearing in another tweet that would try to prevent the long-awaited bill from leaving the lower house.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chairwoman of the House Progressive Caucus, noted on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the White House is likely to have trouble getting the support of her caucus, which includes more than 100 members in a closely divided chamber.
“We are one of the only countries in the world, if not the only country in the world, that is, an industrialized country that imposes any requirements on people who just want to eat,” Jayapal said of imposing stricter work requirements on government aid programs. . He called it “very bad policy” and expressed doubts about its impact on reducing spending.
The deal announced Saturday night raises the debt ceiling until 2025, well beyond the next election. A GOP one-pager said the debt deal would return non-defense discretionary spending to fiscal year 2022 levels. Rep. Dan Bishop (RNC) said the accounting, however, includes a recovery of $29 billion in unspent COVID funds. Another source said non-defense spending would remain roughly flat if other agreed credit adjustments were taken into account.
The deal “blocks red tape at a post-COVID level,” Bishop complained in one tweethe also expressed disappointment that the deal blocks only $1.9 billion of an $80 billion IRS funding increase that Democrats approved last year.
The bill is expected to be released later Sunday, after Biden and McCarthy talk to finalize the deal. Biden administration officials are also expected to speak with House Democrats to brief them further on the legislation.
Leaders anticipate a vote in the House on Wednesday, complying with Republicans’ rule of having at least three days to review the text of a bill before voting.
But lawmakers involved in the deal indicated it might not have a smooth road to the finish line in Congress.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) he tweeted that the deal had “false spending cuts.”
Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) said he was “appalled by the debt ceiling surrender” late Saturday, shortly after the deal was announced and McCarthy briefed other members on the components of the OK. “The bottom line is that the US will be $35 trillion in debt by January 2025,” he added.
McCarthy played down the right-wing criticism, saying the bill has none concessions for the Democrats – and is far from his demands to raise the “clean” debt ceiling.
“We did a conference call with our conference and more than 95 percent were very excited about what they saw,” McCarthy said at a news conference Sunday.
“We know that any time you sit down and negotiate within two parties, you have to work with both sides of the aisle. So it’s not 100 percent what everyone wants, but when you look at it, the country will be stronger McCarthy said.
Roy disagreed with the 95 percent figure, saying in a tweet that he already knew “no more than that.”
Biden called the deal “an important step forward that cuts spending while protecting critical programs for working people and growing the economy for everyone.”
But he similarly acknowledged that “not everyone” will get what they want as part of the compromise, while saying the deal protected his and congressional Democrats’ “key priorities and legislative accomplishments.” The White House has acknowledged that the deal was the best it could do in a divided government.
For now, some Democrats are treating the deal with skepticism.
Jayapal on CNN did not directly answer whether the strengthened work requirements for public assistance programs are a deal breaker for her, choosing instead to wait until seeing the upcoming text of the bill and details on the changes for veterans.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) in a statement Sunday encouraged the president to continue to consider unilaterally raising the debt limit through the 14th Amendment, a risky and unproven legal argument.
“The text of the bill, not the top lines and lobbyists in the aisle, will determine whether this is a good deal or a bad deal. The 14th Amendment must remain an option,” Connolly said.
The White House began contacting Democratic members and staff in both chambers to inform them of the deal as soon as it was announced, according to a Democratic source.
As more progressives and conservatives have drawn their own battle lines in recent weeks, there have been high expectations that both sides will likely lean heavily on moderates to pass a bipartisan final deal. But there is uncertainty about how some members in the middle will receive the next bill.
Moderate Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) told “Fox News Sunday” that he had not yet “made up his mind” about the legislation. “I’ll listen to what the president and his people’s arguments are, but no, I’m anything but a clear yes at this point.”
Summing up reactions from both sides over the past day, Rep. Jim Clyburn (D.C.), a former Democratic whip, told MSNBC on Sunday that “there’s a lot of whining on the right” and “a lot concern on the left.”
“But I do think that ultimately the two sides will come together and we’ll have a deal that the American people can be happy with, and I think we can be comfortable as long as the lawmakers,” he added. .
Conservatives in Congress, as well as their allies outside of it, are beginning to mobilize against the bill.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) had committed last week to use “every procedural tool at my disposal” to stop a debt limit bill that doesn’t meet his standards.
Russ Vought, the president of Citizens for American Renewal who was central to the strategy of those who resisted McCarthy for Speaker in January and extracted concessions from him, suggested that three of the 20 members who resisted McCarthy as chairman could block the bill from reaching the House.
McCarthy appointed Roy, Rep. Ralph Norman (RS.C.) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) to the House Rules Committee, the last stop before the legislation gets a full vote, after win the hammer
But only the three Republicans could block the legislation if the panel’s four Democrats vote against it, a move that would be a historic rebuke to the White House.
Mike Lillis, Brett Samuels and Mychael Schnell contributed.
