McCarthy impresses Senate GOP with surprise wins in debt ceiling battle

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is winning the trust of Republican senators who were skeptical about his ability to lead his caucus and avoid a crisis over the debt ceiling. 

Many GOP senators expected President Biden and the Speaker to hit an implacable stalemate that would force Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to step in and broker a deal, as he has in the past. 

Instead, McCarthy surprised them and the rest of Washington by passing a debt limit bill through the House in late April — a move that served as a turning point, won goodwill amongst his partygoers in the upper chamber and helped put him over the top last week. 

“The unity, the strength of that — I think that gave him great momentum coming into this to get the president to the table,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a former House colleague of the Speaker. “I think he comes out of this really, really strong.” 

McCarthy was staring down serious headwinds heading into the debt ceiling battle after it took him 15 rounds to win the Speakership gavel in January.

Previous GOP leaders had been vexed by conservatives while trying to win support for legislation to raise the debt ceiling. McCarthy, who seemed to enter the debate from a weaker position, would fail, many Democrats and some Republicans believed.

“Biden was counting on his failure, and he surprised a lot of people.” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a top McConnell ally, told The Hill. “I don’t think he’ll be underestimated anymore after this. I thought he did a masterful job.”

McCarthy drove the negotiations, with McConnell, instrumental in previous deals, gladly taking a back seat.

“Really, all of the senators are appreciative of his candor and the way that he handled it, but obviously there’s different opinions among us,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), a friend of McCarthy’s who served in the House for a decade prior to his election to the Senate last year.

“When he was in negotiations, we had made it very clear we were going to give him all the room we could to negotiate the best bill he could,” said Mullin, who backed the legislation. “All of us senators, we were staying away from it. We weren’t really having demands on it … and he was appreciative to have the room to do it.”

The affable McCarthy, long known for his ability to cultivate and maintain relationships, briefed Senate Republicans on a call shortly after the deal was reached last weekend.

One GOP source noted that most of the questions posed to McCarthy during the call were about permitting reform, which most Senate Republicans were “jacked about.” 

Keeping a dialogue with Republican senators on the negotiations was consistent with a pledge McCarthy had made when to said at the annual Senate GOP retreat in February that the party’s appropriators needed to work with one another.

“I don’t think we’ve had that good of communication between the two chambers since I’ve been in office. Serving in 10 years in the House, we never had that kind of communication with the Senate,” Mullin said. 

McCarthy won a majority of House Republicans for the debt deal but only 17 Senate Republicans. Thirty-one voted against it — perhaps partly a reflection of the fact that the bill’s passage was assured in the chamber, given Democratic support.

Still, most GOP senators opposed to the bill weren’t slamming McCarthy, who was also to move some GOP senators.

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), another former House member who keeps tabs on the lower chamber by keeping up appearances in the House gym, made it clear that he was supporting the bill in large part to support the Speaker’s efforts. 

“I completely respect what Kevin did and I’m so proud of him for getting what he got [in the agreement],” Cramer said. “I don’t know how you could have gotten a better deal.”

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), a former two-term House member, said that McCarthy did an “incredible job,” especially when it came to dealing with his party’s conservative faction. 

“I think people underestimate how hard it is to work when you have such a thin margin of the majority. I’ve worked a lot with folks in the Freedom Caucus in my life as well,” said Marshall, who voted “no” in Thursday night’s Senate vote. “So I truly understand. It truly is like herding cats.”

“I think he got the best deal he could get based on the hand he was dealt,” Marshall added. 

McCarthy will face new challenges going forward, including during the appropriations process and government spending battle. But he also won big points with this week’s victory.

“He did well. He just had to keep it moving and he kept it moving,” said Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), who served eight terms in the House. “And at the end of the day, he pulled the trap door on the Freedom Caucus and he’s going to survive another day.”