For some of us?
There was NEVER any doubt in this outcome….
While some in te media made this a colossal fight?
It wasn’t….
From the promises Kevin McCarthy made to the renegade Republican House members to the Progressive Democrats ?
Joseph Biden, the President maintained his ‘cool’, keep quite, and in the end got most of what he wanted….
And McCarthy
The bill now goes to the US Senate which has a Democratic majority and a Republican leadere in Mitch McConnell who has said he supports whatever House Speaker McCarthy wants , which is what was passed….
Oh?
Yea…..
McCarthy NEEDED Democratic votes ….And found votes from his party memebers who did NOT want to be holding the bag for long drawn out budget spectacle that Donald Trump was urging…
The House passed H.R. 3746 (118), sending it to the Senate with less than six days until a June 5 default deadline.
The vote united a swath of Republicans and Democrats, and was opposed by a swath of conservative and progressive lawmakers, with a few of the former floating an attempt to strip Speaker Kevin McCarthy of his gavel over the bipartisan debt agreement he negotiated.
The hurdles aren’t over yet. Senate leaders will need to cut their own deal with conservatives in their chamber to get the bill to President Joe Biden’s desk on time.
But passing the bill marks the House’s biggest bipartisan victory since Republicans took over the chamber this year. Until now, McCarthy’s repeated wrangling of members has mostly been on a series of messaging bills with no Democratic support and no chance at becoming law. And he faced plenty of questions on whether he could get enough Republican support for the debt plan.
“Don’t miss out. Don’t sit back and think, ‘I wanted something so much more,’” McCarthy said, describing his pitch to members. “Yeah, there’s a lot of things I want, too, but this is one that moves us in the right direction.”
In the end, McCarthy lost 71 House Republicans. But the bill easily passed with support from over a hundred Democrats, who were torn between voting for a bill that includes some policies they oppose or risking a default.
“I have mixed emotions because, on one hand, I think that what our colleagues are doing is punitive and just bad for a country. But I also recognize the importance of protecting the full faith and credit of my country,” said Rep. Troy Carter (D-La.).
But there was still plenty of internal GOP drama, despite the pre-baked outcome.
In addition to raising the debt ceiling until Jan. 1, 2025, the debt bill sets top-line spending levels for two years. It also, among other provisions, automatically cuts government funding by one percent absent spending bills passed by Jan. 1. Republicans have also touted new work requirements and other restrictions for certain social safety net programs….
…
Some of McCarthy’s fiercest detractors also raised the prospect of trying to oust him from the speakership — a likely doomed effort but one that still threatens to reopen old wounds from the high-drama fight over the House gavel.
McCarthy and his team worked up until the vote to try to drive up the number of Republicans who would support the deal. The more GOP yeas he put on the board, the more leadership could isolate the small crop of conservatives contemplating mutiny — strengthening McCarthy’s hand as he heads into new governing challenges, not to mention the 2024 elections.
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), one of the lead GOP negotiators, said he wasn’t worried about McCarthy being ousted, arguing that he had been constantly “underestimated.”
“The week of the speaker’s vote, the lack of negotiation, there have been multiple times this calendar year alone that he’s been underestimated. The vote tonight will prove out why that is the wrong proposition here,” McHenry said….
Democratic Socialist Dave says
Ilhan Omar (DFL-Minn.) — who is the far Right’s preferred left-wing minority non-Christian, hijab-wearing, immigrant bogeywoman of choice — voted, surprisingly FOR the debt-ceiling deal, while the rest of the Squad — AO-C [NY], Ayanna Pressley [Msss.], Rashide Tlaib [Mich.] & Cori Bush [Mo.} — voted nay.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/05/31/us/politics/house-debt-limit-live-vote.html
But since most of the Freedom Caucus also voted nay, Rep. Omar’s aye might make her seem even more repellent to the Right.
jamesb says
Lets face it…..
WE KNEW how this dance would end….
So did the dancers….
Looking at the ‘whipped’ count give some wiggle room….
BTW?
ANY Senate changes means the bill HASS TO go BACK to the House for another vote……