As some members of the House Freedom Caucus rail against the debt ceiling compromise, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and his negotiators praised the deal as “transformational” and something that would change the country's trajectory.
Despite the compromise being met with pushback from the farther right wing of the party, McCarthy and his two negotiators, Reps. Garret Graves (R-LA) and Patrick McHenry (R-NC) expressed confidence that the deal will pass and pass with a majority of Republicans voting for the bill.
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“We did a conference call with our conference, and over 95% were overwhelmingly excited about what they see,” McCarthy told reporters Sunday morning.
Since Saturday, when details of the debt ceiling compromise began to leak out into the public and House GOP Leadership held a conference call with all its members to discuss the deal, members of the conservative Freedom Caucus took to social media to express their displeasure with the compromise.
Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) tweeted on Saturday night that no conservative could justify voting “Yes” on the deal. Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) tweeted that the people praising the debt ceiling bill were RINOs or “Republicans In Name Only.”
Two other Freedom Caucus members, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), said they don’t like the deal with Norman, calling it “insanity.”
The speaker said he is “not at all” worried about a member unhappy with the deal bringing up the motion to vacate his speakership. The bill might not have everything everyone wanted, but that’s the nature of negotiations and just how it is in divided government, McCarthy said.
“I think (the bill) is good for the American public,” McCarthy said. “We're going to have Republicans and Democrats be able to move this to the president. The president agrees with this bill as well.”
McCarthy said he plans to both brief Senate Republicans on the debt ceiling bill and speak with President Joe Biden Sunday as he finalizes the text of the bill.
The deal includes significant Republican wins, including the clawing back of nearly $29 billion in unspent COVID relief funds, adding work requirements to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program up to age 54, clawing back the $1.9 billion appropriated to the Internal Revenue Service for the 87,000 new agents, implement a temporary 99% continuing resolution cap until all 12 appropriations bills are passed, and would restart student loan payments in 60-days.
Hard-line conservatives are mostly upset because the spending levels remain mostly flat, and there was not a major cut like they wanted to see. While the deal rolls back the non-defense and non-veteran discretionary spending to Fiscal Year 2022 levels, it increases spending on defense and veterans.
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“This is the biggest set of spending cuts, and there's substantial change from the spending in the last few years under this administration that is changing the trajectory of the fiscal house here in Washington,” McHenry said.
McCarthy plans to file the bill this afternoon and have members come back on Tuesday so they can vote on it by Wednesday and send it to the Senate. The country is projected to default on its debt on June 5.