The bipartisan agreement to raise the debt limit cleared a key hurdle on Tuesday evening despite vehement criticism from many House Republicans.
The House Rules Committee voted 7-6 to advance the legislation that codifies the bipartisan agreement struck between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s team and negotiators from President Joe Biden’s administration. The rule will now go to the full House floor before the agreement comes to a full House vote.
The rule passed after an hours-long deliberation in the committee that included multiple amendment proposals.
The vote comes as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that the United States will be unable to satisfy its debt obligations come 5 June. The House of Representatives is set to vote
But many House Republicans raised objections, including members of the House Freedom Caucus who had previously opposed Mr McCarthy’s bid for speaker in January. Rep Andy Biggs (R - AZ) told The Independent that Mr McCarthy’s deal with the White House was a repeat of his past behaviour.
“When he was been in leadership for 13 years, it was not uncommon for him to be the point man to go negotiate a spending cap deal with the Democrats,” he said.
Many Republicans criticised the fact that the legislation keeps in place Mr Biden’s student loan forgiveness, only claws back a small sliver of money meant to increase funding for the Internal Revenue Service and raises the debt limit until January 2025, after the 2024 presidential election.
Rep Bob Good (R - VA) told The Independent that the bill symbolised a surrender from House Republican leadership.
“We have literally come together and our leadership and their leadership and agreed on a Democrat bill,” Mr Good told The Independent.
But many allies of Mr McCarthy also opposed the legislation. Rep Nancy Mace (R - SC), who voted for Mr McCarthy for speaker in January, announced her opposition to the bill.
“Washington is, was and always will be lousy at responsibly spending your tax dollars,” she tweeted. “That won’t change unless we demand change.”
Rep Chip Roy (R - TX) refuted the idea that conservatives would want the United States to default on its debt obligations.
“The only person who would default in this town is Joe Biden unless Republicans default on the American dream by voting for this bad bill,” he said at a press conference. “That is why this group will oppose it, we will continue to fight it, today, tomorrow, and no matter what happens, there’s going to be a reckoning about what just occurred.”
Mr Roy had tweeted on Monday that during the negotiations for the speakership, Republican leaders pledged that nothing would pass the Rules Committee without at least seven Republican votes and the committee would not allow for reporting out rules without unanimous Republican votes.
During the negotiations, Mr Roy tried to stress his opposition and said why Republicans should oppose the bill.
“We're not going to reduce spending through this deal. Unless we actually stand up and reduce spending it'll be on us to choose to,” he said during the hearing. “But this deal isn't going to reduce spending even though everybody's going around saying it will.”
But some Republicans stressed that the agreement was the only one that could pass the House and Senate and end up on the president’s desk.
“We only control one-half of one-third of government,” Rep Erin Houchin (R - IN) said. “There’s no better deal to be had.”
Mr McCarthy expressed confidence in a press conference that he would have enough votes to raise the debt limit.
“I’m not sure what in the bill people are concerned about,” he told reporters, saying it is the largest savings in congressional history. “We’re pulling money back for the hard-working taxpayers that are going to China. Are they opposed to work requirements for welfare?”
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that if the bill passed, the budget deficit would be reduced by about $1.5 trillion through a period from 2024 to 2033.
In addition, the provision in the legislation that would exempt for veterans, people experiencing homelessness and adults between the ages of 18 and 24 who were in foster care when they turned 18 from work requirements to obtain the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, would mean 78,000 people would gain benefits. The increase comes despite the fact that the legislation would raise the age for work requirements for SNAP from 50 to 54.
On the Senate side, both Republican and Democratic leaders praised the agreement.
“Congress will vote on legislation that locks in that important progress,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R - KY) said in remarks on the Senate floor. “Republicans have a tremendous opportunity to take on an existential challenge facing our economy and future generations of Americans. We have a chance to start bringing Washington Democrats’ reckless spending to heel.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer ((D - NY) said the bill was a reasonable compromise.
“Of course, nobody is getting everything they want – there is give on both sides – but this agreement is the responsible, prudent and very necessary way forward,” he said on the Senate floor.
Mr Schumer said he would bring the bill up as quickly as possible for consideration before the default deadline on 5 June.
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