A total of 20 House Republicans are taking a stand against the deal hashed out between the White House and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to avoid a U.S. debt default. The compromise would suspend the debt limit until January of 2025, but leading the GOP charge against it was the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which views the agreement as being too watered down. Their opposition, if it holds, means a bipartisan vote will be necessary for passage as Republicans hold a narrow majority in the lower chamber.
“This deal fails, fails completely,” Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday. “We will do everything in our power to stop it and end it now,” he also said.
“Not one Republican should vote for this deal,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), another member of the group. “No one sent us here to borrow an additional $4 trillion to get absolutely nothing in return,” he added.
Roy said McCarthy’s deal with the White House “at best, if I’m being really generous” offers “a spending freeze for a couple years.”
Another member opposed to the deal, Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC), put his fellow GOP colleagues on notice. “This is a career-defining vote for every Republican,” he said.
Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) said she did not “come to Congress to rubber-stamp bankrupting our country,” and Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) charged what he described as a “crap deal that’s going to put you more in debt with no real changes whatsoever.”
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) said the debt ceiling agreement would be “a wash, spending-wise” because the “small cut” to discretionary spending will be eclipsed by “large increases in spending elsewhere.”
And finally Rep. Scott Perry tweeted out a comparison graph which described McCarthy’s agreement with Biden as a “‘deal’ with the Swamp.”
DEBT CEILING DEAL: "Not one Republican should vote for this deal. It is a bad deal. No one sent us here to borrow an additional $4 trillion to get absolutely nothing in return." @RepChipRoy #ampFW pic.twitter.com/T5lHIWpKRQ
— FreedomWorks (@FreedomWorks) May 30, 2023
#NoDeal pic.twitter.com/TUk2lfuPnb
— RepScottPerry (@RepScottPerry) May 30, 2023