US House to hold final vote on raising debt ceiling ahead of default deadline | US debt ceiling

The House is set to hold its final vote on raising the debt ceiling Wednesday, as leaders of both parties expressed confidence they will soon clear a major legislative hurdle with just days left before the US is expected to default.

Arriving at the Capitol Wednesday morning, the House Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy, told reporters that he felt “good” about the upcoming vote, expected to be held at 8:30pm that day. Asked for his message to House Republicans, McCarthy encouraged them to support the bill, describing it as “the first step to change the way we spend money”.

Joe Biden predicted that the House will have passed the bill by Wednesday night, when he is scheduled to land in Colorado Springs, Colorado, ahead of his commencement address at the US Air Force Academy on Thursday.

“We are going to deal with the debt ceiling,” Biden said. “I think things are going as planned, God willing.”

Despite leaders’ assurances that the bill would pass, members of the hard-right House freedom caucus injected some drama into the day’s proceedings by opposing a procedural motion prior to the final vote. With 29 Republicans voting against the motion, McCarthy had to rely on Democratic assistance to advance the debt ceiling proposal. In the end, 52 Democrats voted for the motion, setting up the final vote and virtually ensuring the bill’s passage.

If the bill passes the House, it will be taken up by the Senate, which will need to approve the legislation quickly to protect the US from a potentially disastrous default. The treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, has warned that the federal government will be unable to pay its bills starting 5 June unless the debt ceiling is raised.

The debt ceiling bill would raise the government’s borrowing limit until January 2025, ensuring the issue will not resurface before the next presidential election. As part of his negotiations with Biden, McCarthy successfully pushed for government spending cuts and changes to the work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

However, the concessions that McCarthy won fell far short for members of the freedom caucus, who had pushed for steeper spending cuts and much stricter work requirements for benefits programs. House freedom caucus members attempted Tuesday to block the bill from reaching the floor, but their efforts were unsuccessful. Dozens of the caucus’ members were expected to oppose the bill when it comes up for a final vote.

Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, chair of the freedom caucus, said on Twitter before the vote, “President Biden is happily sending Americans over yet another fiscal cliff, with far too many swampy Republicans behind the wheel of a ‘deal’ that fails miserably to address the real reason for our debt crisis: SPENDING.”

Even as McCarthy braced for dozens of Republican defections, the bill still appeared set to pass in a bipartisan fashion thanks to many Democrats’ support of the legislation. The House Democratic leader, Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, said Wednesday morning that he planned to vote “yes” on the proposal after thoroughly discussing the debt ceiling deal with the White House and the members of his caucus.

“I support it without hesitation, reservation or trepidation,” Jeffries told reporters. “Not because it’s perfect, but in divided government, we of course cannot allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good. And President Biden did an incredibly good job under difficult circumstances in protecting some key priorities and values for the well-being of the American people.”

But dozens of progressive lawmakers, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, indicated they would not support the bill, even as they emphasized the crucial importance of avoiding a federal default. Progressives attacked the spending cuts and new work requirements procured by McCarthy as an affront to the voters who elected them.

“The debt ceiling agreement will cause millions of Americans to suffer so Republicans can score political points,” said Representative Ro Khanna of California. “This is not a deal that upholds progressive values. It increases spending for defense and limits the pot of money for everything else. I urge my colleagues to consider the impact this will have in concrete, practical terms.”

Although the bill has received criticism from both ends of the political spectrum, it still appears likely to become law. The Senate Democratic majority leader, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, has pledged to act swiftly to take up the bill once it has passed the House. The Senate Republican minority leader, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has already indicated he plans to support the proposal as well.

“Any needless delay, any last-minute brinksmanship at this point would be an unacceptable risk,” Schumer said in a floor speech Wednesday morning. “Moving quickly, working together to avoid default is the responsible and necessary thing to do.”