In the face of their parties’ loud opposition to the debt ceiling bill, House Republicans and Democrats cast their votes to pull the legislation across the finish line.
Every time a few GOP lawmakers backed the bill, a few Democrats would add their votes, and the party tallies soared.
Republicans said the rare and striking show of bipartisanship on Wednesday — on a bill that avoids a default, limits future spending and imposes new conservative policies on some welfare programs — was the result of a virtuoso performance by Speaker Kevin McCarthy. He delivered GOP support despite vehement opposition from members of the conservative Freedom Caucus and isolated threats to carry out a vote of no confidence against him.
“We have a lot of people casting what for them are very tough votes, casting to raise the debt ceiling when they’ve never done that before. I think he’s the guy that got that done,” said Rep. Tom Cole, Oklahoma Republican serving under his fourth GOP speaker.
The debt-ceiling measure moved to the Senate, with passage expected sometime Thursday night. The deadline for the government defaulting on some of its obligations has been set for Monday.
Mr. McCarthy has now flipped the script after a rocky start that saw him make history by needing a 15th ballot to win the speakership in January, leading many analysts to predict he wouldn’t survive the spring.
He’s done more than survive, supporters say. He’s led Republicans to seize the agenda in Washington, forcing President Biden into a defensive crouch.
The president has now been pressured into negotiating on the debt limit and had to make an embarrassing reversal and sign a law overturning the District of Columbia’s attempt to reduce maximum sentences for serious crimes.
Mr. Biden has also had to veto four bills that cleared Congress — three of them attempts to overturn administration regulations. None of those measures would have reached his desk without a GOP-led House.
Mr. McCarthy is supervising an oversight onslaught against Mr. Biden, his family and his administration. That includes investigations into Hunter Biden and a brewing battle with the FBI over a bureau file that lawmakers say includes bribery allegations against the president.
And despite falling short on his vow to pursue impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the speaker did overcome severe internal divisions and pushed a conservative border security bill through his chamber.
Most Republicans said Mr. McCarthy’s debt victory was his best performance yet.
“The speaker played a four-seat majority to a big negotiation with the president,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry, North Carolina Republican. “We passed the debt ceiling increase with conservative reforms. We got Republicans to the negotiating table with the White House.”
The White House says Mr. Biden didn’t actually negotiate on the debt limit, but instead was negotiating on a budget framework. The two issues were merely tied together in the end, the White House insisted.
But the president was generous with praise for Mr. McCarthy, thanking the speaker for “negotiating in good faith.”
“Neither side got everything it wanted. That’s the responsibility of governing,” Mr. Biden said.
Mr. McCarthy got 149 Republicans to vote for the deal in the House, or more than twice the 71 GOP “No” votes . He had reportedly promised the White House 150 votes in support.
Democrats delivered 165 votes in favor, compared to 46 “No” votes.
As the outlines of the deal became known, some GOP opponents said it was so bad that Mr. McCarthy should be ousted from the speakership.
Those voices cooled by Wednesday’s vote, but some lawmakers still seethed.
Rep. Ken Buck, Colorado Republican, told reporters that he would not move to oust Mr. McCarthy, but it will be a difficult issue to avoid.
“I’m not going to file a motion to vacate, but I do think it’s going to be a discussion next week,” he said. “I don’t know how you avoid the discussion at this point; more Democrats voted for this bill than Republicans.”
One difference is that Democrats were backing a sitting president in Mr. Biden, while Mr. McCarthy was asking Republicans to buck his party’s presidential hopefuls, most of whom panned the deal in one form or another.
Former President Donald Trump said he would have allowed the government to bump into the debt limit — an unprecedented situation that many analysts say would mean default on U.S. obligations and resulting economic chaos.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence also complained that the deal Mr. McCarthy struck didn’t change the country’s unsustainable fiscal trajectory.
The speaker’s backers said it was too much to expect Mr. McCarthy and Republicans, holding a tiny majority in the House and in the minority in the Senate, to change decades of overspending.
But they argue he made significant gains without giving up conservative principles. There were, for example, none of the tax increases Mr. Biden has sought.
“This is not a bunch of liberal policies sprinkled in with conservative policy,” said Mr. McHenry, one of the lead negotiators on the deal. “This is fundamentally a right-of-center bill attached to a debt ceiling increase.”
Mr. Cole said some Republicans who backed the debt limit increase had never voted for one before. He said the credit for that goes to Mr. McCarthy.
“I think his political skills are unparalleled,” the Oklahoma Republican said.
Mr. Cole said it helped that Mr. McCarthy has been the GOP’s best recruiter for years, even before becoming the party’s House leader, so he helped put many of the members in their seats.
Rep. Dan Newhouse, Washington Republican, said the way Mr. McCarthy handled the debt debate was “a breath of fresh air.”
“He’s got a very open process, he allows people to express their opinions on things. We’ve got a lot of ability for people to have input on the bills, things aren’t just cooked up in his office and brought out and we’re expected to vote on it,” Mr. Newhouse said. “Whether you agree with everything in the final outcome or not, everybody feels like they have a say.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, no stranger to big dealmaking, offered strong praise for Mr. McCarthy.
He said the speaker laid the foundation for victory when he unified House Republicans in April behind a bill to raise the debt limit while slashing federal spending. That was the moment Mr. Biden’s no-negotiations strategy fell apart.
“House Republicans’ unity gave them the upper hand,” Mr. McConnell said. “And they used it to secure a much-needed step in the right direction.”
Rep. Garrett Graves, Louisiana Republican, gushed that Mr. McCarthy was “the best strategist that we’ve had in modern history.”
“This guy is amazing, his ability to think not just about steps two, three and four, but thinking about steps five, six and seven down the road,” Mr. Graves said. “It’s remarkable watching him sit there and think about scenarios and mapping out a path forward.”
Rep. Thomas Massie, Kentucky Republican who has been in Congress since 2012, had never voted for a debt limit increase before this year. He said Mr. McCarthy had three big challenges coming into the year: To win the speakership, to negotiate a debt-limit deal and to fund the government for fiscal year 2024.
That funding fight is still looming, and Mr. Massie said it dwarfs the debt fight in terms of significance.
“This was a scrimmage, and the appropriations bills are the Super Bowl,” he said.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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