WASHINGTON (AP) – The tight fight over the debt ceiling and budget cuts package headed to a key vote in the House on Wednesday as President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy assembled a coalition of centrist Democrats and Republican supporters against fierce conservative outbursts and progressive opposition.
Biden expressed optimism that the deal he negotiated with McCarthy will pass the chamber.
“I think things will go as planned,” he told reporters. The president will leave Washington Wednesday night for Colorado, where he is scheduled to deliver the commencement address Thursday at the US Air Force Academy.
“God willing by the time I land, Congress will be acted, the House will be acted, and we’ll be one step closer,” he said.
Biden sent top White House officials to the Capitol to drum up support ahead of the vote. McCarthy worked to sell skeptical fellow Republicans, even dismissing challenges to his leadership, in a rush to avoid a potentially disastrous US default..
“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but historically, I want to be here with this bill today,” said McCarthy, R-Calif., when he arrived at the Capitol.
Despite deep disappointment from right-wing Republicans that the compromise fell short of the spending cuts they demandedMcCarthy insisted he would get the votes needed.
He described the package as a “small step” to control the US debt load, and announced that he would next work to establish a bipartisan commission to more deeply address budget imbalances.
“Now, America will win,” he said
Quick approval in the House and later in the week in the Senate would ensure that government checks keep coming out to Social Security recipients, veterans and others and prevent financial chaos at home and abroad. . Next Monday is when the Treasury says the US is running out of money to pay its debts, which risks an economically dangerous default.
The package left some lawmakers completely satisfiedBut Biden and McCarthy rely on support from the political center, a rarity in a divided Washington, trying to lead the Democratic president and the Republican speaker..
A boost came Wednesday morning when the bipartisan congressional Problem Solvers Caucus announced its endorsement, possibly bringing more votes to the tally.
In total, the 99-page bill curbed spending for the next two years, suspended the debt ceiling until January 2025 and reformed policies, including new work requirements for older Americans receiving food assistance and greenlighting an Appalachian natural gas pipeline opposed by many Democrats.
For more than two hours late Tuesday as aides rolled pizza in the Capitol, McCarthy walked Republicans through the details, fielded questions and encouraged them not to forget the budget-saving bill.
The speaker sometimes deals with difficult people. Leaders of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus spent the day criticizing the compromise as falling far short of needed spending cuts.and they promised to try to stop the passage.
“This deal has failed, completely failed,” Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, said, joined by others outside the Capitol. “We will do everything we can to prevent it.”
A larger conservative faction, the Republican Study Committee, declined to take a position. Even the rank-and-file centrist conservatives were unsure, leaving McCarthy scrambling for votes.
Rep. Nancy Mace, RS.C., said after a “healthy debate” late into the night she still didn’t.
Alarmed, conservatives warned of a possible attempt to oust McCarthy for compromising.
“There is a reckoning,” said Rep. Chip Roy of Texas.
Biden spoke directly with lawmakers, making more than 100 calls, the White House said.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the spending restrictions in the package would reduce deficits by $1.5 trillion over the decade, a key goal for Republicans trying to curb the debt load.
President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached a final agreement Sunday on a deal to raise the nation’s debt ceiling.
McCarthy told lawmakers that number could be higher if the two-year spending caps are extended, which is not guaranteed.
In a surprise move that could undermine support for Republicans, the CBO said it plans to impose work requirements on older Americans who receive food stamps. will end up increasing spending by $2.1 billion over the period. That’s because the final deal exempts veterans and homeless people, expanding food stamp rolls by 78,000 people a month, the CBO said.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said it was up to McCarthy to make the votes, though he assured Democrats would prevent a default. In the 435-member House, 218 votes are needed for passage
“It is my hope that the House Republicans will keep their promise and give at least 150 votes because it is related to an agreement that they themselves negotiated,” said Jeffries, a high bar for McCarthy that hit
The Liberal Democrats rejected the new work requirements for older Americans, those ages 50-54, in the food assistance program. And some Democratic lawmakers are leading an effort to remove an odd provision for the Mountain Valley Pipeline natural gas project. Energy development is important to Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va., but many others oppose it as not helping to fight climate change.
The top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, said that including the provision of the pipeline is “disturbing and very disappointing.”
On Wall Street, stock prices fell.
The House aims to hold votes on the procedure Wednesday afternoon with final action expected in the evening. It will then send the bill to the Senate, where Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Republican leader McConnell are working toward passage over the weekend.
Schumer warned there was no room for error.
Senators, who had remained largely on the sidelines during most of the negotiations between the president and the speaker of the House, began to insert themselves more forcefully into the debate.
Some senators are insisting on changes to change the package from left and right. But making any changes to the package seems unlikely with little time left before Monday’s deadline.
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Associated Press White House Correspondent Zeke Miller and writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.
