Putting the House Rules to the Test: Biden’s Decent Spending Guarantees Comes To The Final Closed Senate Judgment
The bill will need 60 votes in the Senate to get to Biden’s desk. Schumer has said that senators will stay the weekend to pass the legislation.
Tom Massie, who had been a potential third vote to block the bill, expects to vote for the rule. He said that members of the Rules panel, which decides if a bill moves to a vote on the floor of the house, have an opportunity to voice their opinion with a vote on the House floor.
Three GOP members could derail the deal by joining Democrats. The legislation may be supported by the democrats since President Biden sealed the debt deal.
The House Rules Committee, the next stop for the legislation, convenes Tuesday afternoon. The panel includes nine Republicans and four Democrats and typically paves the way for bills drafted by the speaker to the House floor.
“The vast majority of the Republican conference in the House is going to vote for this bill. And and how could they not do that? He said that the reduction in spending and changes to welfare reform policy is an historic accomplishment.
The compromise legislation can still pass the House, even though Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota chairs the Main Street Caucus.
The fact that conservative GOP — and progressive Democratic — lawmakers aren’t happy with the final compromise deal isn’t entirely surprising. No one would be completely satisfied, as was said by President Biden as well as congressional leaders. Rep. Greg Casar, member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told All Things Considered co-host Ailsa Chang Tuesday that “many” in the caucus are leaning against the bill over some of the spending cuts. “We have to hold the line against people getting screwed, getting kicked off of vital food programs, getting kicked off of their child core assistance, losing health care or losing housing,” Casar said. The group says the savings could have been found by closing tax loopholes for wealthy taxpayers.
“With a very small majority in the House, we had the most conservative outcome conceivable,” the North Carolina Republican said. I wanted more, but I know what we now have is better than what will be.
The deal Biden and McCarthy struck is a modest package of spending nips and safety-net tucks. There are some stupid policies and cruel ones, like cutting funding for I.R.S. enforcement, but what’s most surprising is its size. There will be a cut of about 70 billion dollars next year and another $112 billion in the year after that. Biden has major achievements from the Inflation Reduction Act to student loan cancellation.
First, do we actually have a deal? Ultraconservative House Republicans forced Kevin McCarthy to endure 14 humiliating failed votes — and make a slew of concessions — to win the speakership. The message seemed to say that he was at their pleasure. As part of the agreement that won him the gavel, he would allow dissatisfied members to call for a vote on his speakership at any time, but he could not risk their displeasure. The danger of default was there. Biden and McCarthy could always strike a deal. A deal that was meant to satisfy Biden, McCarthy and the Freedom Caucus didn’t work out.
Anger over House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s deal with President Biden to raise the debt ceiling is bubbling over, with some conservative members threatening to oust McCarthy as speaker.
Roy argued there was a “breach” in the structure of the House Republicans after they elected McCarthy as speaker. He promised to fight the new compromise bill, without mentioning the speaker by name.
Texas lawmaker Chip Roy, a member of the Freedom Caucus, said that the Republican conference had been torn asunder. Not one Republican should vote for this deal.
The chairman of the House Freedom Caucus said during a press conference on Tuesday that the deal fails and they will do everything in their power to stop it.
Threatening default — and we came within days of it this time — in order to get a deal like this is like threatening to detonate a bomb beneath the bank unless the teller gives you $150 and a commemorative mug. It is a weird mismatch of means and ends.
House-Debates the Biden-McCarthy Debt Ceiling as Default Deadline looms: The Fiscal Responsibility Act
The Fiscal Responsibility Act was approved overwhelmingly by the chamber Wednesday night on a 314-117 vote.
Biden said that the House took a crucial step forward to avoid a first-ever default and protect the country’s hard-earned economic recovery. The sides did not get everything they wanted. That’s the responsibility of governing. I want to thank Speaker McCarthy and his team for negotiating in good faith, as well as Leader Jeffries for his leadership.”
Democrats continued their claim that House Republicans held the economy hostage by not agreeing to pass a clean debt limit bill during the debate.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries praised his members for pushing back against “extreme MAGA Republican efforts to jam right-wing cuts down the throat of the American people.”
bipartisan support enabled the bill to clear a procedural hurdle. Democratic lawmakers initially held back on voting on the rule needed to advance the legislation, leaving Republicans to be the only ones voting in favor of the rule for several minutes.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/31/1179246766/house-debates-the-biden-mccarthy-debt-ceiling-bill-as-default-deadline-looms
The House-Debates the Benen-McCarthy Debt Ceiling Bill as Default Deadline looms
“I probably would’ve done the same thing,” McCarthy said of Jeffries’ choice to wait until the last minute to give his members the green light to vote. “Well played.”
The bill phases in higher age limits for work requirements on certain federal safety net programs like food stamps, lifting the maximum age from 50 to 54 by 2025. It also would create new exemptions that waive those requirements for all veterans and those experiencing homelessness, and young adults between 18-24-years old aging out of foster care.
The CBO forecasts the overall agreement would cut federal deficits by about $1.5 trillion over the next decade. That’s just under 7% of what those deficits were projected to be prior to the deal. The most significant part of the deficit reduction would be from caps on discretionary spending other than defense.
A bloc of conservative members expressed their dismay at some of the provisions in the legislation, and argue McCarthy didn’t align the bill close enough to a version the House passed in April.
“People want to compare to what they wanted,” Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said ahead of the vote. “But they should compare to where we were at, which was we were going to get a clean debt ceiling with nothing.”
The GOP left a closed-door meeting Tuesday night to prevent any members from ousting McCarthy because of a provision he agreed to during his fight for the gavel.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/31/1179246766/house-debates-the-biden-mccarthy-debt-ceiling-bill-as-default-deadline-looms
Towards a new chapter in bipartisanship: A senator’s analysis of a compromise package to halt a default crisis
Meanwhile, some Democratic members struggled between wanting to pass a bill to avoid a potentially catastrophic default and voting for legislation with provisions their constituents don’t support, like work requirements and speeding up permitting on energy projects.
Annie Kuster said that Biden was very involved in contacting members to increase their support for the bill. On Monday, the two spoke by phone. A majority of Democratic votes came from the New Democrat Coalition chaired by Kuster. Kuster, who voted for the bill, said that she hopes the compromise deals lead to a new chapter in bipartisanship.
“Since the prior president and certainly since Jan. 6th, it’s been very difficult in the Capitol working across the aisle. It’s been very painful,” she said. I think this agreement will lead to a more productive relationship between Republicans and Democrats.
She said the group of people who were against the bill felt strongly they would not let the country go over a fiscal cliff.