Global Courant
U.S. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) leaves office at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, DC, on May 30, 2023.
Anna Geldmaker | Getty Images
WASHINGTON — A bill to raise the debt limit and limit government spending passed late Wednesday in the House by a wide margin, sending the bill to the Senate just days before Monday’s standard US deadline.
The Fiscal Responsibility Act passed 314-117, with support from both Democrats and Republicans.
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It was a dramatic conclusion to weeks of tense negotiations between the White House and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
That drama is now moving to the Democrat-controlled Senate, where leaders on both sides want to pass it within 48 hours. Late Wednesday night, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., stood up in a nearly empty Senate chamber to formally place the bill on the calendar for Thursday.
“There has been a very good vote in the House. I hope we can quickly introduce the bill here in the Senate and get it to the president’s desk as soon as possible,” Schumer said.
The response from the White House was measured. “Neither side has gotten everything it wanted. That is the responsibility of governing,” President Joe Biden said in a statement immediately after the vote. Biden thanked McCarthy for “negotiating in good faith,” and urged the Senate to pass the bill quickly.
For McCarthy, the vote was a personal victory to be celebrated. “I’ve been thinking about this day, before my (election as) speaker, because I knew the debt ceiling was coming. I wanted to make history,” he said at a press conference on Wednesday night.
“It wasn’t an easy fight. I had people on both sides upset,” McCarthy said. “But I think we’ve done the American people a pretty good job.”
But during the celebration, some Republicans were left furious. “The disastrous debt ceiling deal just passed with more Democratic votes than Republican votes,” said Georgia GOP Representative Andrew Clyde, an outspoken opponent of the bill. “Tells you everything you need to know,” he said, calling the bill “shameful” in a tweet on Wednesday.
The fact that McCarthy’s bill passed with 165 Democratic votes, but only 149 from the Republicans, came as a surprise to many. Earlier in the day, just 29 Republicans had voted against a measure to begin debate on the bill, a final procedural step that often serves as a litmus test for the final tally.
But not in this case. On Wednesday night, 71 Republicans voted against McCarthy and voted against the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said federal funds could dry up in the coming days unless lawmakers raise the borrowing limit before next week.
Failing to do so would upset global financial markets, US jobs would be lost, and vital government benefits for millions of Americans would be jeopardized.
The Fiscal Responsibility Act is the result of a deal between McCarthy and Biden that essentially gave conservatives several ideological policy victories in exchange for their votes to raise the debt ceiling beyond next year’s presidential election and into 2025.
Most importantly, the bill prevents a potentially catastrophic US debt service that could happen next week if Congress fails to pass the bill by then.
