WASHINGTON (AP) — Crossing a crucial hurdle, the debt ceiling and budget cuts package to avert default headed toward House passage late Wednesday as President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy assembled a coalition of centrist Democrats and Republicans against fierce conservative blowback and progressive dissent.
Tensions rose during an afternoon procedural vote when heavy Republican support lagged, but the package ultimately sailed to approval once Democrats unleashed favorable votes in a show of bipartisan support. Onlookers filled the visitor galleries. The vote was 241-187 to proceed toward final approval.
As debate began, Biden expressed optimism that the agreement he negotiated with McCarthy would pass the chamber and avoid an economically disastrous default on America’s debts.
“I think things are going as planned,” he told reporters. The president was to depart Washington Wednesday evening for Colorado, where he is scheduled to deliver the commencement address Thursday at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
“God willing by the time I land, Congress will have acted, the House will have acted, and we’ll be one step closer,” he said.
Biden sent top White House officials to the Capitol to shore up backing. McCarthy worked to sell skeptical fellow Republicans, even fending off challenges to his leadership, in the rush to avert a potentially disastrous U.S. default.
“Everybody has a right to their own opinion, but on history, I’d want to be here with this bill today,” McCarthy, R-Calif., said as he arrived at the Capitol.
Despite deep disappointment from right-flank Republicans that the compromise falls short of the spending cuts they demanded, McCarthy insisted he would have the votes needed by the evening roll call.
He characterized the package as “just a small step” toward getting the U.S. debt load under control, and announced he would next be working to set up a bipartisan commission to more deeply address budget imbalances.
“Today, America is going to win,” he said
Quick approval by the House and later in the week by the Senate would ensure government checks will continue to go out to Social Security recipients, veterans and others and would prevent financial upheaval at home and abroad. Next Monday is when the Treasury has said the U.S. would run short of money to pay its debts, risking an economically dangerous default.
The package leaves few lawmakers fully satisfied, but Biden and McCarthy were counting on support from the political center, a rarity in divided Washington, testing the leadership of the Democratic president and the Republican speaker.
Overall, the 99-page bill restricts spending for the next two years, suspends the debt ceiling into January 2025 and changes policies, including new work requirements for older Americans receiving food aid and greenlighting an Appalachian natural gas line that many Democrats oppose. It bolsters funds for defense and veterans.
Raising he nation’s debt limit, now $31 trillion, ensures Treasury can borrow to pay already incurred U.S. debts.
For days McCarthy has worked to build support among skeptic Republicans. For more than two hours late Tuesday as aides wheeled in pizza at the Capitol, he walked Republicans through the details, fielded questions and encouraged them not to lose sight of the bill’s budget savings.
