Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) said he believes there are enough votes to pass the debt ceiling bill in the House of Representatives on Wednesday despite opposition by several House Republicans.
McHenry, speaking on CNBC's Squawk Box on Wednesday, conceded that the deal did not get Republicans everything they wanted but reaffirmed that is the way negotiations work with Democrats in control of the Senate and the presidency.
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"I think we have the votes to pass this today, and I think that will project confidence to Americans that we’ll get things done. Look, you said it, in a negotiation, you're not gonna get everything you want," McHenry said. "And we didn’t get everything we wanted, the House Republicans. We don’t have the majority in the Senate, and Joe Biden is certainly not a Republican, so we had a really tough negotiation, but we had good conservative wins."
McHenry then listed off items in the debt ceiling deal, including increased work requirements for SNAP and permitting reforms, among other items, which he labeled as "conservative wins."
The lead negotiator for House Republicans also said the deal should not leave any parties happy but that it is the nature of "a divided Washington," adding the GOP should take the "wins" in the bill and move on to the "next fight," which should be the 2024 elections.
"No one should be quite pleased with the nature of this package. It’s a negotiated package in a divided Washington, but we need to pass it, and we need to get some fiscal restraint out of it and policy wins, bag those, and move on to the next fight," McHenry said. "And the next fight becomes, really, the political one in the election year for the presidency, control of the House and Senate."
When further pressed on how many votes there are in the House for the debt ceiling bill, McHenry conceded that "nothing's a done deal until the vote's closed" but that he believes they will get enough votes from both parties to pass the bill.
"Look, it’s the House of Representatives. Nothing’s a done deal until the vote’s closed, and the vote will be this evening. So today will be a long grinding day," McHenry said.
"It’s going to be a long day. But I think the votes are there on both sides. Democrats will approve some votes. And in the nature of a deal like this, both parties have to reach goals, but Republicans will carry the lion's share of the votes today in the House of Representatives," McHenry continued.
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The debt ceiling bill being considered by the House was negotiated by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Biden, with the deal being reached over the weekend. The deal has faced pushback from within the GOP as more than two dozen Republican members of Congress have indicated they will vote against the bill.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the "X-date" for when the United States will default on its debt obligations unless a debt ceiling increase is passed is June 5.