How House Republicans gave McCarthy more ammunition in debt fight against Biden with key decisions

Republicans are trying to maximize House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) leverage in the debt ceiling negotiations.

At the start of the debt limit fight, McCarthy appeared to have a weak hand to play. The speaker barely won the gavel after an unprecedented 15 rounds of votes, and the GOP caucus appeared fractured. But now, Republicans in both chambers have largely unified around him and are taking steps to strengthen his position.

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Here are some of the steps the GOP has taken to give McCarthy more ammunition.

House Appropriations delays markup

Overnight, the House Appropriations Committee postponed four markups for fiscal 2024 spending bills with the stated purpose of giving McCarthy more flexibility. The move comes as Republicans in both chambers try to present a united front against President Joe Biden and the Democrats.

“Given recent developments in the negotiations between Speaker McCarthy and the President, and in order to give the Speaker maximum flexibility as talks continue, the Committee will postpone this week’s markups,” Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-TX) said in a statement.

McCarthy and Biden met Monday for another round of talks about the debt ceiling, which appeared to yield no major breakthroughs, though the speaker indicated the tone improved.

Passage of Limit, Save, Grow Act

For months, Biden and the White House insisted they would not negotiate on their demands for a stand-alone debt limit increase, with the assumption that McCarthy would struggle to muster the votes to push his own plan through the House.

Then, in April, House Republicans sorted through their differences and passed the Limit, Save, Grow Act to increase the nation’s borrowing authority in exchange for an array of spending clawbacks. Since then, Democrats haven’t approved a plan of their own in the Senate.

Senate stands by McCarthy

White House officials appeared interested in exploiting fractures between Republicans in the House and the Senate, but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) stood by McCarthy.

“Because it took the President three months to start dealing in reality, time is now running out,” McConnell said last week. “I will continue to support Speaker McCarthy 100%.”

Some 43 Republicans in the Senate signed a letter earlier this month opposing a debt ceiling hike without significant budgeting reforms.

Further bolstering McCarthy’s position is the fact that some polling suggests the public blames Biden more than McCarthy for the debt limit deadlock.

House Republicans unite against discharge petition

Democrats have sought to peel off some members and have recently moved to deploy a discharge petition, which would enable them to bypass McCarthy and bring a stand-alone debt ceiling bill to the floor. However, so far, these efforts have been in vain.

Now, some Democrats are pressuring Biden to use the 14th Amendment to eliminate the debt limit.

Despite support for unilateral action by the president, White House officials and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen have tried to tamp down talks about executive action.

Freedom Caucus foil

Although several factors are moving the conversation in McCarthy’s favor, the same hurdles he faced in his bid for the speakership are present. Last week, the House Freedom Caucus, a group of hard-liners in the lower chamber, called on debt limit deliberations to be suspended “until the Senate passes the legislation.”

Deliberations between McCarthy’s team and the White House broke down over the weekend multiple times following that declaration.

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Yellen again reiterated her forecast Monday that the United States will run out of cash to fulfill all of its spending obligations as soon as June 1, giving McCarthy and Biden less than nine days to reach a deal. She bumped her projection from “likely” to “highly likely.”

Once the U.S. blows past that soft deadline, there is a heightened risk of default, though the Treasury may attempt to prioritize spending.

“We don’t have an agreement yet, but I did feel like the discussion was productive,” McCarthy told reporters Monday after his sit-down with Biden. “We’re going to have the staffs continue to get back together.”