GOP Rep. Nancy Mace joins list of rebels voting ‘NO’ on Kevin McCarthy’s debt ceiling ‘debacle’

GOP Rep. Nancy Mace grew a swelling list of Republicans who are balking at the cost of the debt limit deal Speaker Kevin McCarthy cut with President Biden.   

‘Republicans got outsmarted by a President who can’t find his pants. I’m voting NO on the debt ceiling debacle because playing the DC game isn’t worth selling out our kids and grandkids,’ the South Carolina Republican said in announcing her position.

The debt limit deal includes $136 billion in budget cuts and suspends the debt ceiling until Jan. 1 2025 – after the 2024 election. 

It leaves non-defense discretionary spending flat in 2024 and allows for a one percent increase in 2025 – essentially amounting to cuts since inflation is not factored in.

‘This ‘deal’ normalizes record high spending started during the pandemic. It sets these historically high spending levels as the baseline for all future spending,’ Mace sounded off on Twitter. 

‘After factoring in a small cut to discretionary spending over the next 2 yrs, we are still talking about ~$6T more or less in spending bc of large increases in spending elsewhere. In other words, it’s a wash spending-wise.’  

She joins a list of at least 19 definite Republican no votes on the bill. 

‘After I heard about the debt ceiling deal, I was a NO. After reading the debt ceiling deal, I am absolutely NO!!’ Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., wrote on Twitter. 

‘This “deal” is insanity,’ tweeted Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C. ‘A $4T debt ceiling increase with virtually no cuts is not what we agreed to. Not gonna vote to bankrupt our country. The American people deserve better.’ 

‘I think it’s a disaster!’ tweeted Matt Rosendale, R-Mont.

McCarthy will have to rely on Democrat ‘yes’ votes to counteract the GOP nos. The New Democrat Coalition of nearly 100 members came out in support of the bill. 

The speaker also has to be careful due to a new rule allowing just one member of either party to force a vote to remove him as speaker – known as the single person motion to vacate. Then, only a simple majority needs to vote to remove him. 

The deal increases military spending in 2023 to line up with President Biden’s budget request – $886 billion – and limits non-defense discretionary spending — money that goes to things like law enforcement, foreign aid and scientific research — to $705 billion. 

In fiscal year 2024 those figures are allowed to raise only one percent to $895 billion and $711 billion. 

Spending on things like veterans’ health care also lines up with Biden’s budget request. 

The bill faces its first major test on Tuesday when the House Rules Committee must pass it to get it to the House floor. McCarthy placed three hardline conservatives on the panel as part of a deal to get his speakership. 

Two have already said they would vote against the deal – Reps. Chip Roy and Ralph Norman, while one – Rep. Thomas Massie – has signaled he may allow the bill to move to the floor. 

It’s not clear whether the four Democrats on the panel will vote to move the legislation, but Roy reminded McCarthy on Twitter he promised during the speaker’s race not to move anything to the floor without at least seven of the nine GOP votes from Rules. 

The bill is largely different from the party-line, House-passed Limit, Save Grow Act Republicans passed in April – which would have increased the debt limit by $1.5 trillion instead of suspending it and capped spending for 10 years rather than two. 

After two years it switches to spending targets not bound by law. 

Republicans did, however, claim a win in the deal’s provisions that claw back $28 billion in unspent Covid relief and whittle down the $80 billion in additional funding Democrats gave the IRS last Congress. The bill cuts $1.4 billion in IRS funding and shifts $20 billion of the $80 billion to non-defense discretionary funding. 

The bill does not undo Biden’s student loan relief plan but stipulates that student loan payments, which have been on pause since the start of the pandemic, are to resume Aug. 29. 

Freedom Caucus members, including Ralph Norman, S.C., left, Andy Biggs, Ariz., center and Lauren Boebert, Colo., right, have come out in opposition of the bill

The bill also increases the age SNAP and TANF recipients are required to work from 50 to 55, with carveouts for veterans, homeless people and people who were children in foster care. The White House says these exemptions will leave roughly the same number of people eligible for nutrition assistance. 

The bill also includes permitting reforms – overhauling the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to streamline permit timelines for renewable and non-renewable energy projects. 

The bill also includes a direct win for Sen. Joe Manchin, approving the Mountain Valley Pipeline in West Virginia. 

‘This bill is not good for ANY American. It only helps out special interests…oh yeah, and Joe Manchin’s project,’ Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, Texas, said in staking out opposition to the bill.

Republicans were not able to push through the deeper spending cuts and stricter work requirements they had wanted. They also wanted to repeal hundreds of billions in tax incentives for renewable energy projects Biden pushed through in the Inflation Reduction Act last Congress. Democrats, meanwhile, wanted to raise taxes on corporations and high earners and allow Medicare to negotiate prices on more drugs, but those provisions too were left out of the bill.