House GOP may reject Biden-McCarthy deal over debt limit.

Conservatives in the House Oppose Debt Ceiling Deal

Some conservatives in the House pledged to oppose the debt ceiling deal struck by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and President Joe Biden within hours of the release of a final draft.

After weeks of negotiations, President Biden and House Speaker McCarthy reached an agreement over the weekend to raise the debt ceiling and cut spending. However, some House Republicans expressed outrage after seeing the outlines of a deal that fell far short of the cuts and reforms they wanted.

Criticism from GOP Lawmakers

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) knocked what she saw as an emerging “compromise deal” on Saturday and said the Republican House majority could “do better” than what McCarthy accepted. Her criticism reflected a growing number of GOP lawmakers who felt McCarthy did not lean into the leverage he had when negotiating with Biden.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) said the agreement contains “virtually no cuts” to spending. The agreement will cap nondefense federal spending in fiscal 2024 at its present level and allow a 1% increase in spending in fiscal 2025.

Conservatives, such as Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), had pushed for spending levels next year to revert to fiscal 2022 levels and to lay out a deficit reduction plan that brought the deficit down more than $4.8 trillion over the next decade. Roy, who is one of at least eight Republicans already planning to vote against the deal, said the agreement looked unacceptable even before the text of the legislation was released.

More GOP lawmakers have criticized the deal since its release, so that number is likely to grow in the days ahead. Roy was concerned, among other things, about welfare work requirements that he described as “weak.”

Concerns from Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC)

Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) lamented the length of the deal McCarthy struck because it locked in some changes until 2025. Bishop expressed concern that so much of the $80 billion in new IRS funding that Democrats voted for last year will remain in the agency’s coffers. The debt ceiling deal cuts billion of that each of the next two years, for a total of $20 billion in clawbacks, but the federal government will have the ability to spend that money elsewhere rather than put it toward reducing the deficit.

Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) said Republicans should be concerned that most Democrats appear poised to vote for the deal — a sign, he said, that Democrats got more of what they wanted.

Overall, the debt ceiling deal has faced criticism from conservatives in the House who feel that it falls short of their expectations and does not do enough to reduce the deficit.

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