A House Democrat knocked the tentative debt ceiling deal for lacking any progressive priorities but conceded the measure might still get Democratic votes.
"None of the things in the bill are Democratic priorities," Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) told Fox News Sunday. "That's not a surprise, given that we're now in the minority. But the obvious point here, and the speaker didn't say this, the reason it may have some traction with some Democrats is that it's a very small bill."
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Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) crowed that "there's not one thing in the bill for Democrats" in the bill and that "Democrats are very upset."
Himes cited policies such as drug price reductions, climate change, and infrastructure as Democratic priorities. Despite seeing a potential silver lining in the "small" nature of the compromise, Himes argued that some provisions, such as cutting funding for IRS tax enforcement, are particularly tough to swallow.
"In the service of actually not destroying the economy this week, [it] may get Democratic votes," he added. "It's not done yet. And all you need to do is check the social media of the Freedom Caucus, who were just obliterating this deal."
Conservative hardliners probably won't be the only ones grumbling over the compromise deal, according to Himes. The congressman said that he expects to "have to hold the phone out" during the conference call with House Democrats slated for Sunday evening.
Once Congress turns the page on the debt limit battle, Himes believes it needs to reassess its approach to governing via crisis and warned that Democrats may seek to give Republicans a taste of their medicine if the GOP gets back in the White House.
"We all need to sort of step back and think, alright, maybe this extends it for two years, but do we really want to have this conversation in two years," he said. "Let's imagine that there's a Republican president in two years in January, and now we do exactly what Kevin McCarthy and the Republicans have done over the course of the last couple of months."
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The full text of the agreement is expected to be released later Sunday. As part of it, lawmakers are seeking to lift the debt limit for about two years in exchange for rescinding unspent COVID-19 funds, substantially curbing spending growth, more stringent work requirements for social programs, and more.
McCarthy intends on giving members 72 hours to review the text of the legislation. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently bumped the "X-date" for when the government runs out of cash to foot all its bills to June 5.