House Passes Bill to Raise the Debt Ceiling, But Trouble Looms in Senate

After months of uncertainty and weeks of heated negotiations, the House passed a bill to raise the nation's borrowing limit by a 314-117 vote, with 149 Republicans and 165 Democrats favoring the measure. Four representatives did not vote.

This bill, which was the product of negotiations between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, proved contentious for both parties as hardline conservatives condemned the measure for not cutting spending enough and progressives chastised the measure for making too-deep cuts.

GOP leadership almost failed in bringing the deal to the House floor after hardline conservatives defected on a rule vote needed to advance the deal for final approval. Traditionally, rule votes are advanced by the majority through a party-line vote, yet 52 Democrats had to break with their party to bring forth the measure.

While the political center can celebrate being one step closer to staving off potential default ahead of the June 5 deadline when the Treasury Department says the nation will run out of cash to pay its bills, the measure faces a precarious path ahead in the Senate, which requires 60 votes for a bill to pass and faces contempt from both parties' extreme flanks.

"Usually when the far right and the far left aren't happy, that usually means it's a pretty good agreement in the middle," Democratic Senator Gary Peters of Michigan told Newsweek. "There're a number [of amendments] that are being talked about, but they're going to be running a hotline later tonight, so we'll have a better sense of what people want to offer late tonight."

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the recently passed bill, known as the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, would reduce the $31.4 trillion national debt by $1.5 trillion.

Roughly $1.3 trillion of these savings would originate from instituting caps on non-defense discretionary spending—cash designated for pursuits such as health care research, education and law enforcement—that keep fiscal year 2024 spending around current levels and prevents fiscal year 2025 spending from rising more than 1 percent.

It would also see mandatory spending—funding largely spent on Social Security and Medicare—fall by $10 billion, which, along with the $1.3 trillion reduction, would help the U.S. save $188 billion that the country would have had to pay in interest on its debt.

A key part of the agreement also staves off another debt limit fight until after the 2024 election. Republicans originally wanted 10 years of discretionary spending caps and to raise the debt limit only through 2024. To reach a deal, the White House had to make a number of policy concessions that include rescinding $1.38 billion from the IRS and repurposing another $20 billion from the $80 billion the agency received through Biden's Inflation Reduction Act.

Additionally, the deal would see changes in work requirements for those who receive food through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Work requirements for recipients would apply to childless adults ages  50 to 54. However, veterans, the homeless and those who were children in foster care would be exempt from the SNAP work requirements.

The bill would also institute regulatory changes to speed up the approval of new energy projects and permitting requests for the Mountain Valley Pipeline in West Virginia, a priority for Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, who wields a key swing vote. Furthermore, the measure would end the COVID-19-era freeze on student loan payments and claw back $30 billion in unspent COVID relief funds.

These policy changes have drawn the ire of some on the left who believe that Republicans held the nation's economic health "hostage" to advance an agenda that harms the poor without taking steps to lower the debt by taxing the rich and large corporations.

"This is ridiculous," Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who is undecided on whether he'll support the bill, told Newsweek. "I object to the entire idea that we're in this position. We're dealing with political terrorists. We shouldn't have to pay a ransom to pay our bills, but we are where we are."

The sentiment shared by Murphy mirrors the feelings of many within the party who chose to vote against the bill, believing that Republicans never should have used the prospect of default as a negotiating tool. But while these individuals may feel that the bill has resulted in a loss, many members of the right do not feel that they scored a victory.

Grievances shared among the Republicans who voted "no" on the bill included the concern that it does not do enough to lower the national debt. Colorado Republican Representative Ken Buck, founding member of the hard-right Freedom Caucus and one of the first to come out against the deal, criticized the measure on Twitter. He condemned the bill for extending the debt limit for two years, allowing the U.S. to borrow $4 trillion more, raising the national debt to $35 trillion by January 2025.

Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, who said he does not support the measure, felt similarly. He provided the following answer when asked what he found most troubling about the Biden-McCarthy deal:

"Try $4 trillion," he told Newsweek. "It's all smoke and mirrors."

Frustrations from senators on the left and right could derail efforts to pass the bill by the June 5 deadline.

Under normal operating conditions, advancing a bill through the Senate takes around a week. The chamber will have four days if it wants to get the measure to Biden's desk before June 5. Bills passing through the Senate require a number of procedural votes, and the chamber operates largely by unanimous consent. Some lawmakers have threatened to withhold this unanimous consent if they are not allowed to propose amendments to the bill, which, if passed, could sink the entire effort.

Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia has told reporters on Capitol Hill that he wants to initiate a push to remove the provision granting approval to the Mountain Valley Pipeline. While progressives would likely stand behind Kaine's effort, a path to 60 votes seems unlikely.

On the Republican side, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul told reporters that, while he does not seek to delay the effort, such a move could be possible if he is not granted the opportunity to propose an amendment that would enact stricter budget cuts. It's unlikely that such an amendment would pass.

Republican Senator Mitt Romney of Utah said he does not believe that lawmakers proposing amendments are playing politics and that there is reason for "legitimate concerns." However, he suggested such efforts are only delaying the inevitable.

"I think, frankly, the bill could be substantially improved," Romney told Newsweek. "That's not going to happen because we're not going to default, but there's no question that it's not a perfect bill."

"When the president and the Senate are in Democrat hands, it's unlikely to have a compromise that's something that we love," he added. "It's better than what we would have had, but it's not as good as you'd like it to be."