House Speaker Kevin McCarthy acknowledged that the debt-ceiling deal negotiated with the White House is likely to face some Republican resistance while touting the accord as a shift in spending policy that bears his party’s stamp.
“So maybe it doesn’t do everything for everyone, but this is a step in the right direction that no one thought we would be at today,” McCarthy said on “Fox News Sunday,” the morning after negotiators unveiled the deal.
“I think you’re going to get a majority of Republicans voting for this bill” as well as some Democrats, he said. He said 95% of the Republican conference was excited about the bill.
President Joe Biden and McCarthy will talk before 2 p.m. Sunday, after which the legislative text would be released, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a letter to his caucus. Negotiators from both parties are expected to brief their members on the deal in separate calls later in the afternoon.
Biden and McCarthy, who sealed the agreement during a 90-minute phone call late Saturday, must now shepherd the framework to final legislative passage over the objections of hard-liners in both parties.
McCarthy touted clawbacks in previously approved spending — “the largest rescission in American history,” he said — increased work requirements and accelerated student loan repayments as provisions that should appeal to Republicans.
But he said the deal only cuts the Internal Revenue Service’s budget by $1.9 billion — the first year of a multi-year ramp-up in agents to crack down on tax evasion by high-income earners — and not the $80 billion that many GOP lawmakers had sought. “I didn’t get all of it repealed, but they have none for this year,” the speaker said.
While the agreement would not affect the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness, which is being litigated in the courts, it would end the pandemic-era moratorium on repayments. “The pause is gone within 60 days of this being signed,” McCarthy said.
Representative Pramila Jayapal, chairwoman of the 100-member Progressive caucus, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that she hasn’t decided whether she’ll support the bill but that Jeffries should be concerned about whether he can deliver votes from the Democrats’ left flank.
There’s little margin for error, with both the votes and the time needed to deliver them in question. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Friday that an extension must be finalized by June 5 to avoid a historic default.
--With assistance from Erik Wasson and Victoria Cavaliere.
(Adds with additional comments from congressional leaders beginning in the fifth paragraph)
