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There’s still a long way to go, but House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s debt ceiling bill took an important step forward Tuesday night as the Rules Committee voted 7-6 to advance the measure to the floor and a vote by the full House.
There’s not much time left if the nation is to avoid default:
The timeframe to get the bill passed through both chambers of Congress and signed into law is extremely tight. Lawmakers are racing the clock to avert a catastrophic default ahead of June 5, the day the Treasury Department has said it will no longer be able to pay all of the nation’s obligations in full and on time.
In another positive sign for the bill’s prospects in the House, a wide range of members on both sides of the aisle – many of them moderates – appear poised to coalesce behind the deal to avert default. Republicans believe they are pushing toward 150 Republican votes or more, two sources told CNN.
Some Republicans including Rep. Chip Roy (TX) Rep. Thomas Massie (KY) have been blasting the bill, claiming that the GOP caved in negotiations with President Joe Biden. They both voted against moving the bill forward.
McCarthy, however, stands by the results:
🚨 Just confirmed by the non-partisan @USCBO → This will be the LARGEST SPENDING CUT that Congress has ever voted for in history. $2.13 Trillion!
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) May 31, 2023
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Some like Roy, however, are so dismayed by the failure to get more spending cuts that they’re threatening to try to remove McCarthy as speaker. During an interview with Glenn Beck, he said that if the deal can’t be stopped, “then we’re going to have to then regroup and figure out the whole leadership arrangement again.”
Newly-declared presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is also not thrilled with the result of the McCarthy-Biden negotiations, saying on a Fox and Friends appearance Monday:
Prior to this deal, our country was careening towards bankruptcy, and after this deal, our country will still be careening towards bankruptcy, and to say you can do 4 trillion of increases in the next year and a half, I mean, that’s a massive amount of spending.
The bill is expected to go before the full House for a vote Wednesday evening.
Related:
Lindsey Graham Shows Up to Give the Worst Take Possible on the Debt Ceiling Deal
The Dirty Little Secret About the Biden-McCarthy Debt Ceiling Deal No One Has Addressed Yet
It Would Appear Kevin McCarthy Somehow Did Worse Than Doing Nothing at All on the Debt Ceiling
