A day after publicly previewing his plan to pressure the White House into negotiating over the debt limit, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-OK) tried to sell his approach to a GOP conference rife with internal divisions ahead of a potential vote next week.
At a private meeting of House Republicans, McCarthy reportedly urged his fractious members to line up in support of a bill that would raise the debt limit for one year while also slashing federal discretionary spending, imposing new work requirements for anti-poverty programs and advancing several other GOP priorities. Party leaders reportedly want to turn the plan into legislative text within days and bring the package to a quick vote, arguing that passage would help force President Joe Biden to start negotiations and that once the two sides are at the table, McCarthy can push for additional concessions.
Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), an ally of McCarthy’s, dryly told Politico that the GOP meeting was “a chorus of unity and sunshine.” In truth, McCarthy reportedly met with some pushback from members frustrated with his proposal and seeking to add to the GOP’s list of demands.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) reportedly was among the House Freedom Caucus members pushing for more cuts, and to have the debt limit bill repeal the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Democrats last year, which included climate and health care provisions as well as $80 billion in additional funding for the IRS over 10 years.
“Many GOP lawmakers have demanded party leaders make those moves, though some aides and budget experts say it’s unclear whether they would yield any real savings,” Politico reports, adding that McCarthy laid out the pros and cons of such a move in his slide presentation, according to a meeting attendee who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), chair of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, told Punchbowl News that repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act had to be in the bill for it to pass. Other members have other items on their wish lists. “I think the hardest part is just that there are an unlimited number of conservative policy victories that, of course, we all want to see worked in,” Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) told CNN. “The reality is that in a negotiation, you never get everything you want. And so I think our biggest issue right now is how do we squeeze these thousands of desires down to a manageable and credible number of asks?”
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) made clear that Republicans still had plenty of other hurdles to clear. “We still have to resolve major questions like the dollar amount, and the duration, and the policy concessions we are seeking from the Senate. So it couldn’t possibly have 218 votes, because it doesn’t even exist,” he said, according to Politico.
As he addresses those questions, McCarthy has little margin for defections. He can lose only four votes — or fewer, given that a couple of his members have balked at the idea of raising the debt limit under almost any circumstances. With the path to passage of a GOP bill unclear, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) reportedly proposed using a discharge petition as a fallback option to force a floor vote on a debt-limit increase.
Biden on Tuesday criticized the GOP plan during a White House event, warning that McCarthy’s proposals would slash programs that middle-class and working Americans rely on and raise costs for families. The president also worked in a shot about McCarthy’s speech Monday at the New York Stock Exchange. “He did not tell the wealthy or the powerful on Wall Street that it was finally time to start paying their fair share of taxes,” Biden said of the speaker. “That didn’t come up.”
What’s next: Republicans still hope to release the bill text quickly — as soon as Wednesday or Thursday — and line up a floor vote next week. Remember, their bill will have no chance of passing the Senate. It’s a tactic meant to show that Republicans are unified in rejecting a “clean” debt ceiling increase and requiring spending cuts in exchange for raising the limit. “And even if the measure does squeeze through the House in the coming weeks,” CNN’s Stephen Collinson writes, “it will likely be an idealized Republican product on which Biden and the Democratic Senate will never bite. Any subsequent package that emerged would almost certainly feature concessions that could splinter its GOP support.”
We haven’t even gotten to the details of Republicans’ proposed budget cuts. “It’s also worth noting,” writes Bloomberg columnist Jonathan Bernstein, “that McCarthy’s proposals on spending will push Republicans in vulnerable districts to vote for deep, unpopular cuts that won’t even wind up being enacted, just to appease GOP extremists in Congress who won’t back a final deal anyway.”
