House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) garnered barely enough votes Wednesday to pass the House Republican Party’s proposal to lift the nation’s borrowing limit after several last-minute changes to appease Republicans.
The GOP proposal, which passed 217-215, is probably going dead upon arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate, with President Biden promising to veto it if it lands on his desk.
“The sad thing is that now Democrats should do their job,” McCarthy told reporters after the vote, noting that his conference passed the bill “well ahead of the debt limit.”
“The president can now not ignore without negotiating,” the speaker added. “Senator [Chuck] Schumer, if he thinks he has a plan, put it on the floor – see in the event you can pass it on.
“We lifted the debt cap, we sent it to the Senate, we did our job, the only body here that did its job,” McCarthy continued.
The White House responded Wednesday night, with Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reiterating that “this bill has no probability of becoming law.”
“Congressional Republicans must act immediately and unconditionally to avoid default and make sure that the full faith and credit of the United States is just not compromised. That is their job,” added Jean-Pierre. “Economists have warned that a default could trigger a dangerous financial crisis, result in a recession that can cost thousands and thousands of Americans their jobs, threaten the retirement savings of hardworking Americans, and increase the long-term cost of federal borrowing by increasing deficits and debt. We aren’t a dead nation… We pay our bills. Congressional Republicans now must do it again and take motion to avoid default.”
The 320-page “Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023” was nearly sunk by Corn Belt Republicans who signaled opposition to proposals to repeal some biofuel tax credits, similar to ethanol, introduced by the Biden Inflation Reduction Act.
![Kevin McCarthy](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/NYPICHPDPICT000010166430.jpg?w=1024)
4 Republican members of Iowa Congress declared that it could vote against the debt limit measure unless the tax credit waivers were faraway from the bill, which GOP House leadership agreed to do earlier on Wednesday.
“I feel we’re all very happy that the speaker checked out things and was willing to have interaction in conversation and acknowledge that they were being addressed retrospectively,” Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) told reporters before the floor.
Republican leaders also agreed to hurry up the proposed implementation of job requirements for Medicaid recipients, a concession made to win the support of Gaetz – who earlier this yr was instrumental in halting McCarthy’s election as speaker – and other far-right members of the GOP caucus.
In the end, Gaetz was still one of 4 Republicans to vote against the proposal, joining Ken Buck (R-Colo.), Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) and Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.).
“With our nation running $32 trillion in debt, Congress shouldn’t make final changes at 2am – voting day – to laws raising the debt limit by $1.5 trillion,” Florida Republican he said in a press release.
“While I commend the work of my Republican colleagues who’re calling for higher energy policy, regulatory reform, unemployment advantages and fewer spending, there stays a disturbing fact. This plan will increase America’s debt burden by $16 trillion over the next ten years. Gaslighting the nearly $50 trillion debt owed to America is something my consciousness cannot bear at the moment,” he added.
The changes were passed despite previous repeated insistence from McCarthy and his leadership team that there can be no changes to the bill.
![Matt Gaetz](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/1485443849.jpg?w=1024)
McCarthy’s proposal to lift the debt ceiling would allow the federal government to borrow one other $1.5 trillion or until March 31, 2024 – whichever milestone is reached first – in exchange for discretionary spending cuts to non-related programs with defense.
The laws would limit the increase in future spending to 1% per yr for the next decade.
“These spending caps aren’t draconian; they’re responsible,” McCarthy said in remarks made in the House of Representatives last week after the proposal was announced.
The bill would also invalidate Biden’s plan to cancel as much as $20,000 in student loan debt for some borrowers and undo part of the $739 billion Democratic government spending package implemented last yr.
While McCarthy was in a position to unify his conference at 11 a.m. Wednesday – a significant symbolic victory – the 80-year-old Biden made it clear Wednesday that he had no intention of sitting down with a California Republican to strike a deal to lift the country’s debt ceiling to signed.
“They have not set a debt ceiling yet,” the president said at the end of a joint press conference with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol at the White House.
“I’m pleased to satisfy with McCarthy, but not on whether the debt limit can be prolonged,” Biden said.
“It isn’t negotiable. I noticed they quote Reagan and — they keep quoting Reagan and quoting Trump, each of whom said, paraphrasing, that not extending the debt limit can be an absolute crime.
The CBO predicts that the Treasury Department will exhaust its emergency measures to stop debt defaults between July and September if Congress doesn’t raise the country’s $31.4 trillion credit limit sooner.