Congress will approve a deal on the debt ceiling if the president and the speaker of the House are able to forge an agreement, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) predicted on May 22.
“I think anytime you come to an agreement that you’re negotiating with the president, Democrats and Republicans are both going to vote for it,” McCarthy told reporters on Capitol Hill. McCarthy and President Joe Biden planned to meet on the issue later that day.
Asked specifically whether members of his own caucus would fall into line, McCarthy said he believes that the majority will favor the agreement he hopes to make with Biden.
“I firmly believe what we’re negotiating right now, a majority of Republicans will see that it is [in the] right place to put us on the right path,” McCarthy said.
Eleven senators, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), have urged the president to invoke the 14th Amendment to avoid either defaulting on the debt or accepting severe spending cuts demanded by Republicans.
McCarthy brushed off the possibility, saying simply, “That doesn’t work.”
House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) gave an even shorter reply when asked about invoking the 14th Amendment: “Absurd.”
Biden and McCarthy have been in negotiations about raising the nation’s $31.4 trillion debt limit since early May, about two weeks after the House passed the Limit, Save, Grow Act.
The bill is the Republican plan for raising the debt limit through March 2024 and would limit federal discretionary spending, tighten work requirements for some beneficiaries of Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, claw back unspent COVID-19 relief funds, and loosen permitting requirements on drilling for oil and gas.
Biden continues to maintain that he is negotiating only on the provisions of the Republican plan and not on raising the debt limit itself, which he sees as the responsibility of Congress.
McCarthy has made it clear that Congress won’t raise the debt limit without some agreement to limit federal spending, a point he emphasized on May 22.
“We have to spend less than we spent last year, and you’ve got to know why,” McCarthy said.
“The Democrats spent $6 trillion and brought us inflation, made us more dependent on China. We’ve had three of the biggest four bank failures just in the last couple of months,” the speaker said.
McCarthy says the GOP plan will strengthen the country by making it less dependent on China and helping move people from welfare to work.
Democrats have said that the plan would harm ordinary Americans because it would cut programs they depend on for food and education assistance and would eliminate thousands of jobs.
Talks by negotiators have stopped and restarted several times over the past several days. Though no deal has been made, McCarthy said the May 22 talks were useful in clarifying the demands on both sides so that he and Biden would be fully prepared to meet.
“We can get a deal tonight. We could get a deal tomorrow. But you’ve got to get something done this week to be able to pass it and move it to the Senate,” McCarthy said.
The country will be at risk of defaulting on its debt on or shortly after June 1 if the debt ceiling isn’t raised, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
Any agreement reached by Biden and McCarthy would take several days to move through the legislative process, which involves drafting the legislation and then, under House rules, allowing 72 hours before its introduction and a vote. The Senate would then have to consider the bill, but it’s in recess until May 30.
