President Joe Biden and Republican House leadership appear to be inching toward a deal on the federal debt limit ahead of a deadline to default that some White House officials believe could come as early as June 1.
In a bitterly divided U.S. House of Representatives where House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s control over the chamber is tepid at best, the question is less how a deal will get done, but whether House Republicans can build a coalition necessary to pass one, requiring McCarthy to court Democratic votes to broker a deal.
Throughout the day on Thursday, leaked details of a potential deal between House Republicans and the White House began circulating around Capitol Hill, showing apparent concessions from both sides as the country races toward economic calamity.
Per a copy of the memo obtained by Politico, details of the potential deal included an agreement to lift the debt limit through 2024 in return for Republicans’ desired broad-based cuts to discretionary spending, a plan to claw back tens of billions of dollars in unspent money from the COVID-19 pandemic, and agreements to pass a dozen separate spending bills desired by the White House.
Kevin Dietsch/Mandel Ngan/Newsweek Photo Illustration/Getty Images
While both sides were reportedly still ironing out Republican demands to implement work requirements for certain social safety net programs—a red line for both parties that Biden previously rejected—negotiators appeared optimistic about the prospect of an agreement entering Memorial Day weekend, though it was acknowledged a final deal was still far from finished.
“Speaker McCarthy and I have a very different view of who should bear the burden of additional efforts to get our fiscal house in order,” Biden said during a White House event on Thursday. “I don’t believe the whole burden should fall on the backs of middle class and working-class Americans.”
If negotiators fail to reach a deal by next week, the country will likely default on its debt, resulting in a downgrade of its credit rating that could have calamitous effects across the world economy. And while some have suggested Biden could overstep Congress by invoking his authority under the 14th Amendment, administration officials have cast doubt on its ability to withstand a court challenge, while Biden, a former senator, has a long precedent of deference to the legislative branch.
With narrow margins separating Democrats and Republicans in both the House and the Senate, however, it’s very likely any compromise will cause members from both parties to defect. And signs are beginning to show they already are.
As potential details of a deal began to circulate Thursday, some more right-wing members like Representatives Matt Gaetz, Chip Roy, Lauren Boebert and former House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs—many of whom opposed McCarthy’s bid for the speakership earlier this year—appeared to chafe at the terms, with figures like House Freedom Caucus member and South Carolina Republican Ralph Norman publicly stating his members would support nothing less than the deal they’d struck at a conference earlier this year.
McCarthy, Norman said of the proposal, doesn’t have the 218 votes he needs to pass the deal “unless he gets Democrats,” adding that if he gets Democrats, that’s a “telltale sign” Republicans should not support the deal. On Thursday, 35 House Republicans wrote to the House speaker urging him to “hold the line” on debt limit negotiations or potentially risk alienating their support.
“We will not back down, for the sake of the country,” Norman tweeted.
Newsweek has reached out to Norman’s office via email for comment.
On Friday, Punchbowl News reported that House Democratic leadership had placed a call to senior White House officials expressing consternation with the pending deal, saying many potential terms of the deal—particularly work requirements—were akin to a poison pill for many progressive members of the party.
However, the likely number of Republicans balking at supporting McCarthy could also put pressure on more moderate, swing-district Democrats to vote for a deal that could cost them politically, potentially jeopardizing Democrats’ ability to retake the majority in what is likely to be a contentious 2024 presidential election.
“You can’t ask us to support an agreement we have a problem with,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries reportedly told Democratic members during a closed door caucus meeting Thursday. “And the White House is strong in communicating that position.”
Newsweek has reached out to the White House Press Office via email for comment.