- House Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces GOP opposition to new debt ceiling deal with Joe Biden
- Members of the Freedom House caucus called on the Republicans to scrap the agreement altogether
- The caucus urged McCarthy to instead work on something that would more aggressively cut back government spending
Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces GOP opposition over his new debt ceiling deal with United States President Joe Biden.
On Tuesday, the House Freedom Caucus members said that they were calling on McCarthy to scrap the deal and instead work on something that would more aggressively restrict government spending.
GOP Lawmakers Oppose New Debt Ceiling Deal
In a statement, ten members of the Freedom House caucus said that the newly-reached deal allows for unlimited borrowing. They argued that it also includes cuts that primarily reflect emergency COVID spending that they said would end anyway, even without the deal.
Republican lawmakers said the new deal fails to include measures to address border security in the United States. The caucus' chair, Scott Perry, described the new agreement as "absolutely and completely unacceptable," as per Fox News.
Perry said that GOP lawmakers would do everything they could to disrupt the bipartisan bill and noted that he was "focused" on defeating the deal. As of Thursday, it was not clear if there were enough Republicans who opposed the agreement to force it to fail in the House on Wednesday.
On the other hand, several Democratic lawmakers are likely to support the bill to express their backing of Biden. As of Tuesday, there were only about two dozen Republican lawmakers who have announced that they would either vote against the deal or are considering opposing it.
But Texas Rep. Chip Roy suggested that the House speaker could find it challenging to get the necessary votes to pass the new del. He noted that McCarthy did not even have a majority of his conference, arguing that no Republican should vote in support of the bill.
Some Republican Support for the Bill
The inclusion of Biden's deal with McCarthy includes extending the debt limit for two years and modest federal spending cuts while also cutting a series of policy provisions. According to NBC News, the agreement, known as the Fiscal Responsibility Act, needs to pass the Democrat-led Senate before the June 5 deadline of a potential default.
The primary focus of the new deal is a suspension of the debt ceiling, which is currently set at $31.4 trillion until January 1, 2025. The Treasury Department said that this situation would enable it to use "extraordinary measures" to pay the country's bills, which usually last for months.
On the other hand, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky said he was planning on backing the bill and making it to the floor despite misgivings. He argued that his interest in being on the House Rules Committee is not to imprint his ideology.
Massie's alleged support of the bill boosts the House speaker's effort to push the agreement through. He hammered out a deal with President Biden in several days of contentious negotiations, said the New York Times.