U.S. Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) speaks to members of the media as he leaves a forum of candidates for the House Republican Caucus to run for chairman of the Republican Conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., May 13, 2021. is the third leadership position.
Evelyn Hawkstein | Reuters
After tough talks with the White House on an initial deal on the U.S. borrowing cap, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s next challenge is pushing it through the House, where hard-line Republicans are already threatening to veto it.
McCarthy may be forced to engage in some behind-the-scenes wrangling as Democratic and Republican negotiators hammer out final details of an agreement to suspend the federal government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling in the coming days.
“We will work hard” to prevent it from passing the House, Representative Chip Roy, a prominent member of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, said on Twitter. Republicans in the House and Senate have been critical of the deal’s time frame and new terms.
If Congress fails to resolve its self-imposed debt ceiling by June 5, it could trigger a default that could rattle financial markets and plunge the U.S. into a deep recession.
Republicans control the House of Representatives 222-213, while Democrats control the Senate 51-49. Those gaps mean that moderates on both sides will have to support the bill, as any compromise will almost certainly lose support from both the far left and the far right on all sides.
To win the speaker’s gavel, McCarthy agreed to allow any member to call for a vote to remove him, which could lead to his removal if he seeks to work with Democrats.
Roy complained on Twitter on Sunday that the deal would leave intact the expansion of the tax-collecting IRS created when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress.
Senator Lindsey Graham also raised concerns about the deal’s potential impact on U.S. defense and Washington’s support for Ukraine.
“Not planning to default on debt, but will not support a deal that shrinks the size of the Navy and prevents continued technology and weapons assistance to Ukraine,” Graham tweeted.
“Kicking at the opponent’s yard line is not a winning strategy,” Republican Sen. Mike Lee tweeted.
The deal suspends the debt ceiling until January 2025, after the November 2024 presidential election, in exchange for spending caps and government program cuts.
Rep. Dan Bishop and other hard-line Republicans sharply criticized early details of the deal that showed Biden successfully delayed several cost-cutting demands on Saturday, suggesting McCarthy may struggle to win votes. question.
“There’s a total capitulation going on. Cards on the side,” Bishop said.
Progressive Democrats in both chambers have said they would not support any deal with additional job requirements. The deal did increase work requirements for food assistance for the 50- to 54-year-old group, the sources said.
The deal would increase spending on military and veterans care and limit many discretionary domestic programs, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. But Republicans and Democrats will need to fight over who in the coming months because the agreement is not specific.
Republicans have rejected Biden’s proposed tax hikes, and neither side has shown a willingness to accept fast-growing health and retirement programs that will drive up debt sharply in the coming years.
Several credit rating agencies have scrutinized the United States for a possible downgrade, which would drive up borrowing costs and weaken its status as the backbone of the global financial system.