Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said on Tuesday that he expects the whole House to vote on the proposal he and President Joe Biden negotiated to prevent a financial default by the United States on Wednesday night. He expects it to pass.
He is confident it will get beyond the Rules Committee.
McCarthy has rule gives representatives and the public 72 hours to examine a measure before the House votes on it. His predecessor, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), frequently had the House vote on legislation without allowing its members to study it.
He said it’s not a 1,000-page bill; there are only 99 pages, and 15 of them are rescinding previous commitments.
These include the CDC Global Fund, the $400 million in taxpayer funds that were supposed to go to China, and the COVID funds sitting idle.
McCarthy would like everyone to read it before casting a vote. To read it, voting will be delayed until after 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
He said the $2.1 trillion in savings that are possible over the next six years is what McCarthy is most excited about. However, the agreement is only legally enforceable for the first two years.
McCarthy claims this would enable the most significant cut in U.S. history, and this couldn’t be handled by simply increasing the debt ceiling. He called that “naive.”
He indicated that one shouldn’t think for even a second that he and Biden are where they were in February when Biden said he would never talk or negotiate and it had to be a clean raising of the debt ceiling.
He explained that Biden shut off any other budgetary considerations, so he could only wrangle with 11% of the total budget.
The agreement puts off raising the debt ceiling until after the 2024 elections, on January 1, 2025. To cope with the upcoming debt limit hike on January 2, 2025, McCarthy is counting on Republicans holding control of the House, retaking the Senate, and capturing the White House in 2024.
McCarthy said there are no tax increases or new government programs in the debt deal and that he has to cut even further and put the country on a path to a balanced budget with the help of a Republican Senate and president.
