After weeks of tough negotiations McCarthy and Biden reached a tentative agreement this weekend, but now face the challenge of getting a deal through the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Democratic-led Senate before June 5 to avoid a crippling first-ever default.
Members of the hardline House Freedom Caucus said they would try to prevent the agreement from passing the House in a vote expected on Wednesday. “We’re going to try,” Representative Chip Roy, a prominent Freedom Caucus member, said in a Sunday tweet.
“This is a good strong bill that a majority of Republicans will vote for,” the California Republican told reporters in the U.S. Capitol. “You’re going to have Republicans and Democrats be able to move this to the president.”
Republicans control the House by 222-213, while Democrats control the Senate by 51-49. These narrow margins mean that moderates from both sides will have to support the bill, if the compromise loses the support of the far left and far right wings of each party.
Democrats, who were due to be briefed on the deal at 5 p.m.(2100 GMT) by the White House, had feared the agreement would parallel a Republican debt ceiling plan that passed the House last month and would have imposed deep cuts on domestic spending.
The deal suspends the debt ceiling until January 2025, after the November 2024 presidential election, while boosting spending on the military and veterans’ care, and capping it for many discretionary domestic programs, according to sources familiar with the talks.
Roy complained on Twitter on Sunday that the agreement would leave intact an expansion of the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service set in place when Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress.
“Do not intend to default on debt, but will not support a deal that reduces the size of the Navy and prevents continued technological and weapons assistance to Ukraine,” Graham tweeted.
Representative Dan Bishop and other hardline Republicans were sharply critical of early deal details that suggest Biden has pushed back successfully on several cost-cutting demands on Saturday, signaling that McCarthy may have an issue getting votes.
Progressive Democrats in both chambers have said they would not support any deal that has additional work requirements for food and healthcare programs. This deal does, sources say, adding work requirements to food aid for people aged 50 to 54.
Several credit-rating agencies have put the United States on review for a possible downgrade, which would push up borrowing costs and undercut its standing as the backbone of the global financial system.