Republican Kevin McCarthy leading the debt-limiting deal in the House is a political breakthrough and political win that could give the president a much-needed adrenaline rush in the months ahead.
The Fiscal Responsibility Act passed by a convincing margin of 314 to 117 in the House on Wednesday, drowning out vocal objections from diehard tax hawks in the ranks of the GOP who were threatening to mutiny.
This is in stark contrast to how the California Republican got the hammer in January, which saw a historic and humiliating stalemate including 15 ballots and various compromises on his conservative flank.
Coming out of the debt deal with President Joe Biden, McCarthy begins to strut as House Republicans are poised to push for an extension of Trump-era tax cuts and other goals.
On the Democratic side, progressives feel like they’re on their heels with little recourse other than the Biden administration arguing that the debt ceiling negotiations could have been worse.
Liberal political watchers are trying to pick up the pieces, arguing the deal averts default and prevents the economy from plunging off a cliff, which would have incidentally put a damper on Biden’s re-election hopes.
But the president and his team had said for weeks that there would be no negotiation on the debt limit and compared it to a “hostage taking” before finally acquiescing to GOP demands.
Here are 5 takeaways from what happened.
McCarthy struts on upcoming GOP agenda: “That’s fabulous!”
With a narrow five-seat majority, McCarthy retained his well-known breezy vibe and exuded confidence during months of tug-of-war with Biden and congressional Democrats.
The debt measure passed with strong majorities from both parties — including more Democratic votes than Republicans — slashing planned federal spending by $1.5 trillion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
McCarthy bludgeoned House Democrats with it following Wednesday’s vote, bragging about how they are now on record in favor of spending cuts, welfare work requirements and cut funding from the IRS. He telegraphed how Republicans will soon return for more cuts.
“Let’s cut more because we’re in deep debt,” McCarthy said. “It is fabulous !”
That momentum will be important as House Republicans are expected to pass a measure that would maintain the 2017 tax cuts made under the Trump administration.
“Keep underestimating us, and we’ll keep proving to the American public that we’ll never give up on you,” McCarthy said.
Freedom Caucus barked, but didn’t bite
Ahead of Wednesday’s vote, members of the House Freedom Caucus made it clear that the Biden-McCarthy deal stinks, but their howls did little.
Most of its roughly 40 members voted against the debt ceiling deal, but overall two-thirds of the entire GOP conference, including tax hawks like Representatives Majorie Taylor Greene , of Georgia, and Thomas Massie, of Kentucky, supported the deal.
Representative Dan Bishop of North Carolina, a member of the Freedom Caucus, tweeted a vomit emoji during the negotiations. He blasted the result, saying McCarthy “got ripped off”.
“This is what it looks like when the one-party cartel sells out the American people,” Bishop tweeted on Wednesday.
Is McCarthy’s voice in danger?
McCarthy may have held back his right flank for now, but the unrest among hardline conservatives is unlikely to evaporate.
Ahead of the vote, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., warned in an interview with Newsmax that if a majority of Republicans oppose a measure and it requires Democrats to pass it, “it would immediately be a black letter violation of the agreement we had with McCarthy…and that would likely trigger an immediate motion to leave.”
The Fiscal Responsibility Act had more Democratic than Republican support, but it still had a GOP conference majority. Time will tell if that’s enough to drive an angry member of the Freedom Caucus into a fight with the speaker.
A key concession McCarthy made in January to get the gavel allowed an individual lawmaker to call a vote to oust the president. However, a House majority would still be needed to oust McCarthy.
Biden blinked on debt strategy
The president has insisted for months that he will not negotiate with Republicans over raising the debt ceiling and has drawn a hard line against entertaining spending cuts.
But in the end, Biden caved, and many liberal lawmakers have to swallow their words on behalf of the White House.
“I was proud to join my fellow progressives in saying NO to the GOP bad debt ceiling agreement,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, who leads the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said Thursday. “This bill protected the wealthiest billionaires at the expense of working families, and I refused to accept that.”
The debt debate may not have divided Democrats as much as Republicans, but progressives are furious that they were put in this situation without aggressive offense.
“We shouldn’t be in this position,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts told reporters on Wednesday. “The problem we have is that the Republicans are ready to take hostages and the Democrats are not.”
Prior to the deal, some progressive legal experts had urged Biden to invoke the 14th Amendment, but ultimately the White House rejected the idea.
Now Democrats and Biden allies are trying to spin the deal in favor of the president, arguing he was the adult in the room.
“The debt limit agreement is stupid public policy, but the worst results have been avoided,” tweeted Dan Pfeiffer, former adviser to President Barack Obama. “For that, Pres. Biden deserves the credit.
Senate Democrats make one last fight, but Schumer doesn’t play
A single member of the Democratic-controlled Senate could thwart the entire deal before the default June 5 deadline.
Among the disgruntled Senate Democrats are Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, who on Thursday announced his opposition to the Biden-McCarthy plan
“It is unconscionable that MAGA Republicans and President McCarthy have been willing to entertain the economy above the cliff by default,” he said in a statement. “However, giving in to this blackmail only guarantees that the Republicans will use the debt limit to hold America hostage time and time again.”
But Merkley and other Senate progressives have shown no desire to torpedo the deal.
Whatever the fallout on the left, Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer of New York is not playing as the June 5 default deadline approaches. He said Thursday that his majority will “remain in session until we send a default avoidance bill to President Biden’s office.”
“Time is a luxury that the Senate does not have,” he said.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 5 takeaways from the debt ceiling deal: When will the Senate vote?