Republicans Respond With Outrage to McCarthy’s Debt Limit Compromise

Republicans have expressed outrage this weekend over the news of a tentative debt ceiling deal being reached between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy after weeks of heated conflict.

The news arrived on Saturday night that Biden and McCarthy had agreed in principle to a deal that would raise the country’s debt limit for two years and curb federal spending. McCarthy, backed by a GOP majority in the House of Representatives, had previously refused to agree to a debt ceiling raise without significant spending cuts without raising taxes on the wealthy, while the president held strong, insisting that the debt ceiling should not be used as a bargaining chip.

Among the provisions in the tentative deal are increased work requirements for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, which notably fall short of the requirements that Republicans had been demanding. The deal would also see non-defense spending remain largely flat for the next few years, not increasing in 2024 and increasing by only 1 percent in 2025. The deal must now pass in both houses of Congress before the projected June 5 deadline, after which the United States would default on its debts for the first time in history.

The tentative deal has seen strong pushback from many Republicans in Congress, with some notable members, like Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado, announcing their intention to vote against it.

“Our base didn’t volunteer, door knock and fight so hard to get us the majority for this kind of compromise deal with Joe Biden,” Boebert wrote on Twitter late Saturday night. “Our voters deserve better than this. We work for them. You can count me as a NO on this deal. We can do better.”

Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that there are “more questions than answers about the proposed debt limit deal,” and questioned the deal’s provisions concerning defense spending compared to inflation rates.

“For defense, this deal seems to echo the 2011 sequestration disaster,” Graham tweeted on Sunday morning. “Defense spending below inflation in the real world is a cut at a time when national security threats are increasing. I hope I’m wrong.”

“This ‘deal’ is insanity,” Representative Ralph Norman of South Carolina tweeted. “A $4T debt ceiling increase with virtually no cuts is not what we agreed to. Not gonna vote to bankrupt our country. The American people deserve better.”

“Heard the call. RINOs congratulating McCarthy for getting almost zippo in exchange for $4T debt ceiling hike was enough to make you [puke emoji],” Representative Dan Bishop of North Carolina tweeted. “(Actually, it’s so bad they won’t give a figure for the debt ceiling hike … only that it’s suspended til Q1 2025. Our bill was a year less.)”

“I listened to Speaker McCarthy earlier tonight outline the deal with President Biden and I am appalled by the debt ceiling surrender,” Representative Ken Buck of Colorado added. “The bottom line is that the U.S. will have $35 trillion of debt in January, 2025. That is completely unacceptable.”

In his own tweet announcing the deal, McCarthy called the tentative deal “worthy of the American people,” and later said to reporters that it would see “historic reductions in spending, consequential reforms that will lift people out of poverty into the workforce, [a reining in of] government overreach, [and] no new taxes.”

Newsweek reached out to McCarthy’s press office via email for comment.

On Twitter, Biden presented the deal as a “compromise.”

“It is an important step forward that reduces spending while protecting critical programs for working people and growing the economy for everyone,” the president wrote. “And, the agreement protects my and Congressional Democrats’ key priorities and legislative accomplishments. The agreement represents a compromise, which means not everyone gets what they want. That’s the responsibility of governing.”