McCarthy defends debt ceiling deal amid conservative GOP pushback

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Sunday defended the debt ceiling deal Republicans made with the White House amid pushback from conservative GOP lawmakers who aren’t satisfied with some of the terms of the agreement.

President Biden and McCarthy came to an agreement late Saturday in principle to cap spending and raise the debt ceiling to avoid a national default. The agreement — which Biden and McCarthy each touted as a victory — includes raising the debt ceiling for two years rather than by a monetary amount, no budget caps after 2025 and adjustments to work requirements for certain government assistance programs.

“We were able to do this when the president said he wasn’t even going to talk to us,” McCarthy told anchor Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday.” “This is really a step in the right direction. That puts us [at] a trajectory that’s different. We put a statutory cap on only spending 1 percent for the next six years. So we let government grow but at a slower rate.”

Conservative Republicans are already voicing their criticism to the bill, with Rep. Dan Bishop (R) tweeting a vomiting emoji to express his thoughts on the proposed deal, saying that RINOS, or Republicans in Name Only, were “congratulating McCarthy for getting almost zippo in exchange for $4T debt ceiling hike.” 

When asked what his response was to remarks made by Bishop and other conservatives in the House, McCarthy dismissed those concerns. McCarthy reiterated that this bill is a victory for Americans, noting that Congress is “actually spending less” than they did last year.

“Well, that’s OK. Because more than 95 percent of all those in the conference were very excited. But think about this,” he said on Sunday. “We finally were able to cut spending. We’re the first Congress to vote for cutting spending year over year.”

“If you look at each movement here, this is a whole new direction,” he added. “Just think about how this even came to fruition. Normally you have 1,000 page bill, this is going to be less than 150 pages. Normally, the country doesn’t know about it until after it’s passed. Now, we’ll wait 72 hours. This is worthy of the American people. I want them to read it. I want them to understand it.”

McCarthy said on Saturday that he expects to hold a vote in the House on the bill Wednesday after the text of the bill is set to be released some time on Sunday.