Jayapal: Biden should worry progressive caucus won’t support debt ceiling deal

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chairwoman of the House Progressive Caucus, on Sunday indicated the White House and congressional Democrats should have worries that her group won’t support the debt ceiling deal that President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) struck Saturday night.

“Democrats watching at the White House right now, your friend Hakeem Jeffries, others. Do they still have to worry about the Progressive Caucus and whether or not your caucus will support-” host Jake Tapper asked Jayapal on CNN’s “State of the Union,” wrapping up a conversation on the agreement.

“Yes,” the congresswoman said. “Yes, they have to worry.”

Biden and McCarthy reached a deal on Saturday to lift the debt ceiling for two years and apply new caps on federal spending through the same period.

The text of the bill has yet to be released, and it still has to get through Congress later this week — but the Speaker now says lawmakers will meet the June 5 deadline by which the Treasury has said it will run out of ways to avoid default.

Earlier on the program, Tapper asked Jayapal directly how she’d vote on the deal.

“Well, I don’t know yet, Jake, because I haven’t seen the text. You know, I’m not a big fan of in-principle or frameworks. That’s always, you know, a problem if you can’t see the exact legislative text. And we’re all trying to wade through spin right now,” Jayapal said. “But I think it’s going to come down to what the legislative text is.”

She stressed that, at this point, “we don’t have a deal yet” as the deal now goes before lawmakers.

Jayapal also knocked news that the deal expands work requirements for some on food stamp recipients, calling it “absolutely terrible policy,” but said she’s not sure yet if it’s a dealbreaker because she hasn’t seen the exact language.