McCarthy drags debt deal toward floor vote
Lawmakers are expected to vote first on Wednesday to adopt the rule governing the floor process for the vote — a key test vote for McCarthy where Republicans are likely to need some help from Democrats.
Kevin McCarthy’s debt deal, as well as his grasp on his caucus, seem on sturdier ground than they were 24 hours earlier. | Francis Chung/POLITICO
House lawmakers appear on track Wednesday to approve legislation increasing the nation’s debt limit, a significant step after Speaker Kevin McCarthy tamped down the rumblings of a conservative rebellion.
Though Republican leadership is confident that the party will be able to supply a majority of the majority of votes needed to clear the bipartisan debt deal through the House, whip operations remain in high gear to secure as many GOP votes as possible. Roughly 30 Republicans went public Tuesday with their intention to vote against the deal, while dozens more said they remain undecided.
“Oh, yeah, it’s gonna pass today. A lot of this is fun for the media and people who like to watch human beings have disagreements,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) told CNN Wednesday morning. “At the end of the day, the House Republicans know what’s at stake. That’s one of the reasons that Kevin McCarthy tried to get this done starting the moment this new Congress began.”
Lawmakers are expected to vote first on Wednesday to adopt the rule governing the floor process for the vote — a key test vote for McCarthy where Republicans are likely to need some help from Democrats. A vote on the debt legislation itself is scheduled for the 8 p.m. hour Wednesday.
And while the final vote of the day usually means members press the button, turn and run, Democrats may linger longer. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries made clear his caucus will want to see what kind of numbers the House GOP can put up.
“It’s our expectation that House Republicans will keep their promise and deliver at least 150 votes as it relates to an agreement that they themselves negotiated with the White House.” But he added that “House Democrats will make sure that the country does not default.”
Even with votes still ahead and whip operations ongoing, McCarthy’s debt deal, as well as his grasp on his caucus, seem on sturdier ground than they were 24 hours earlier. Several lawmakers from the GOP’s right flank spent much of Tuesday complaining about the deal their speaker struck with the president, raising the specter that the bill could fail to escape the House Rules Committee or that McCarthy could face a snap vote to strip him of the gavel.
McCarthy, for his part, played hardball with his critics as they sought to derail the deal yesterday. When Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), the two Freedom Caucus members on the Rules Committee, pushed for floor votes on amendments to the bill, he instead worked around them — winning the backing of a third hard-liner on the panel, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).
And he closed the day with a swaggering pitch to his members: “If you think I failed you, I’m sorry,” he told them at a GOP conference meeting. “But if you think I failed, I think you’re wrong.”
Talk of removing McCarthy from the speakership quickly faded in that same GOP conference meeting. Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas), another Freedom Caucus lawmaker, told his conservative colleagues to “cut it out” with their criticism, according to two people in the room.
The message appeared to get through to the rabble-rousers: Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), who earlier had called for a vote to strip McCarthy of the gavel, left the meeting and refused to discuss the speaker’s future with reporters. “I’m not getting into that,” Roy, another of the bill’s most vocal opponents, said as he jumped into an elevator.
Norman, a conservative who opposes the debt bill, said that McCarthy was not actually at risk.
McCarthy’s team is pushing for an overwhelming Republican vote today for the deal he negotiated, knowing that the more GOP yeas he can put on the board, the more leadership can isolate the small crop of conservatives contemplating mutiny — strengthening McCarthy’s hand as he heads into new governing challenges, not to mention the 2024 elections.
The hard-liners know it, too. Asked whether McCarthy had lost the confidence of his members, Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), another dismayed conservative, said “you’ll find out tomorrow when you see the vote totals.”