The House of Representatives has voted to introduce a bill to raise the US debt ceiling, a major victory for Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy that brings Washington much closer to averting a devastating default.
The House of Representatives voted 314-117 late Wednesday to approve the bill, aligning 165 Democrats to 149 Republicans and allowing McCarthy to overcome a rebellion from some members of his own party.
In the end, 71 Republicans voted against the measure, many of them members of the hawkish House Freedom Caucus.
The bill will now be sent to the Senate, which will also need to approve the measure in order for it to be signed into law by President Joe Biden and into force before the looming June 5 deadline.
“I’m watching the division in this house. Tonight, we may come together to do something very big for this country,” McCarthy said in a speech on the House floor before the vote.
McCarthy announced over the weekend that he had reached a deal with the Biden White House to suspend the debt ceiling until after next year’s presidential election. The agreement limits federal spending over the next two years, speeds up the authorization process for large energy projects, cuts new funding for the Internal Revenue Service and introduces new requirements for food stamps and other social safety net programs.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that the government will run out of money and will not be able to repay its obligations on June 5 if the debt ceiling is not raised by then.
McCarthy and the White House were optimistic about the prospect of passing the bill, even as critics in both parties objected to the measure.
On the right, the hardline House Republican Freedom Caucus attacked the deal for not imposing deeper spending cuts.
On the left, progressive Democrats, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Pamela Jayapal, have criticized Biden for giving in to Republican demands.
The bill faces opposition from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle when it reaches the Senate, too, though the House vote has always been seen as a greater risk to the legislation. Bernie Sanders, a progressive senator, strongly opposed the deal on Wednesday, saying he could not vote “in good conscience” on the legislation because it would impose spending cuts without raising taxes on wealthy Americans.
Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the Senate, said Wednesday he would be “proud to support” the deal “without delay” when it is voted on in the upper chamber of Congress.
Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he would bring up the measure “as soon as possible” and urged colleagues to “be prepared to move on this bill quickly once it is the Senate’s turn to act.”
“I can’t stress enough that we have no margin, no margin for error,” Schumer added. “Either we get to work quickly and send this bipartisan agreement to the President’s desk, or the federal government will default for the first time ever.”
Because the Republicans control the House by a very small margin, and more than two dozen Republicans had earlier said they would vote against the bill, McCarthy relied on the support of the Democrats to get the bill through.
Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat, said Wednesday morning that he would support the bill “without hesitation, reservation or fear,” adding, “Not because it’s perfect. But in divided government, of course we can’t allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good.”