House PASSES debt ceiling deal: contentious Biden-McCarthy deal heads to Senate trends now
The House passed the debt limit deal between Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Biden on Wednesday 314 to 117.
71 Republicans opposed the deal, arguing it caved too far to White House demands, while 165 Democrats voted in favor of it.
The deal, which suspends the debt limit until Jan. 1, 2025, now heads to the upper chamber - where senators have begun to demand amendments to the bill. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said there is not time to send an amended version back to the House before the nation runs out of funds to pay its bills -and is trying to force a quick vote.
Sec. Janet Yellen has said the U.S. only has until June 5 before the Treasury runs up against the $31.4 trillion borrowing limit.
The bill limits national security spending in fiscal 2024 to $886 billion - in line with President Biden's budget request - and caps it at $895 billion in 2025, a one percent increase.
It raises the debt ceiling until January 2025, claws back roughly $29billion in unspent COVID funds, ends the pause on Biden's student loan repayments and cuts $1.9 billion - plus an additional $20 billion in the future - of the $80 billion for new IRS agents.
The House passed the debt limit deal between Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Biden on Wednesday
It also 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.
Members from the ideological far right and far left voiced their opposition to the deal, known as the Fiscal Responsibility Act, in the run-up to the vote.
Republicans lined up to oppose the deal even faster than Democrats - and the House Freedom Caucus formally whipped its members to vote against it.
GOP leadership was forced to play defense after the right flank of their conference claimed the deal was not conservative enough and gave in too much to the White House.
'To say we didn't push [the White House] to the brink, to say that we didn't maximize negotiations, it’s just an uninformed position…it's just really unfortunate that people have put us in the situation,' lead negotiator Garret Graves told reporters Wednesday.
'They don't understand what's in the bill,' lead negotiator Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., told reporters of his colleagues who said they would vote 'no.'
Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said McCarthy promised to deliver around 150 GOP votes -- meaning McCarthy factored in about 70 defections.
The rule vote passed 241-187: 29 Republicans opposed it and 52 Democrats voted for the rule
McCarthy had to walk a careful line of ushering a deal with Democrats through that will stave off a calamitous default and holding on to his speakership.
Freedom Caucus members who balked at suspending the debt ceiling until 2025, as agreed to in the deal, have floated the idea of invoking a motion to vacate - in which one member can force a vote on the House floor to oust
