House overcomes final hurdle for debt ceiling bill, teeing up for afternoon vote
Cami Mondeaux
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The House voted to advance House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s debt ceiling package to the floor, teeing the legislation up for a possible vote before the House later Wednesday afternoon.
The vote is the final procedural hurdle Republicans must overcome in order to pass the “Limit, Save, Grow” plan, which would raise the debt ceiling over the next year either by $1.5 trillion or until March 31, 2024, in exchange for some spending cuts. The House is expected to reconvene around 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday to vote on its final passage, according to House leaders.
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The vote comes after days of deliberations between McCarthy and several Republican lawmakers as part of the speaker’s latest efforts to restart negotiations with the White House on how to address the debt ceiling crisis. The bill passed the Rules Committee early Wednesday morning after a marathon session in which GOP leaders made some changes to the bill’s language, hoping to win over some key holdout votes.
Most notably, McCarthy agreed to make changes to one of his provisions that would repeal tax credits on clean fuels after concerns from some midwestern lawmakers, particularly from Iowa. After meeting with members of the Iowa delegation late Tuesday, McCarthy agreed to include exceptions to preserve those credits for those who entered into binding contracts between August 2022 and April 19.
Proposals to cut those ethanol tax credits threatened to sink McCarthy’s bill after at least eight Republicans from the so-called “corn belt” said they’d vote against the bill unless changes were made.
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It remains unclear whether those concessions will be enough to push McCarthy’s bill across the finish line, as a few lawmakers maintain they are still undecided. However, the speaker managed to win over some key voices, such as Reps. Nancy Mace (R-SC) and Chip Roy (R-TX).
Still, some skeptics remain as Victoria Spartz (R-IN) said she remains undecided just hours ahead of the final vote, and Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) declined to answer which way he’d swing. (Rosendale did pen an op-ed with Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) on Wednesday in support of the legislation.)
McCarthy also met with holdouts Tim Burchett (R-TN) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on Wednesday afternoon, although it remains unclear whether Gaetz has changed his mind. Burchett emerged from the meeting, saying he’s still a firm no.