The Debt Ceiling bill passed the House with more Democrat votes than Republican votes. That could initiate the motion to vacate, tossing Kevin McCarthy from the Speakership. 71 Republicans voted against the bill. The motion won’t happen. No matter how bad the debt gets – even $50T in ten years – the Republicans cannot stop the Democrats. At least they can’t cope with the numbers they have in the Senate.
Hakeem Jeffries is as far-left as a Democrat can get, and he easily won this battle of the debt ceiling bill. Speaker McCarthy might also have an alarming side deal with Minority Leader Jeffries.
There will always be a good reason to let Democrats win, and with the Senate we have, there is little hope for the future. Mitch McConnell has preserved the Uniparty in the Senate and will not let a conservative win if he can help it – look what he did in Alaska to keep Lisa Murkowski.
High-level Democrat sources say the side deal INCREASES federal spending for projects in Democrats’ districts. It was allegedly a deal made quietly between McCarthy and Jeffries to get the bill passed. Both McCarthy and Jeffries deny it.
Spokespeople for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), nephew of a renowned anti-Semite, disputed four Democratic sources who told Axios the two leaders had cut a deal for Democrats to help advance the debt ceiling bill to a final vote.
The 52 Democratic votes on a measure to bring the debt ceiling bill to the floor were necessary for the bill’s survival after 29 Republicans had voted against moving it forward Wednesday afternoon. The bill eventually was approved on a 314-117 vote.
Axios: Four Democratic lawmakers said they had been told of a deal, with two saying they believed it involved boosting federal funding for projects in Democrats’ districts — known as earmarks or “community project funding” — if Democrats voted to advance the bill.
McCarthy had told reporters after the initial afternoon vote that he had not cut a deal to ensure the Democratic votes. A spokesperson later told Axios that there was “absolutely no deal” — and that suggestions to the contrary by Democratic lawmakers were “not accurate.”
Jeffries’ office also denied there was a deal.
Earlier, when reporters had asked Jeffries whether there had been a deal, the minority leader said: “House Democrats to the rescue to avoid a dangerous default and help House Republicans get legislation over the finish line that they negotiated themselves.”
[Both McCarthy and Jeffries have lied in the past. Their word cannot be trusted.]