The Republican speaker of the US House, Kevin McCarthy, insisted on Tuesday that supporting the debt ceiling deal would be “easy” for his party and it was likely to pass despite one prominent rightwinger’s verdict that the proposed agreement is a “turd sandwich”.
Amid loud denunciations from the Republican right and also from closer to the centre, McCarthy said he was not worried the agreement would fail, or that it would threaten his hold on the speaker’s gavel.
The bill is the “most conservative deal we’ve ever had”, McCarthy told reporters, of a two-year agreement that includes spending freezes and rescinding Internal Revenue Service funding while leaving military and veterans spending untouched.
Negotiators fielded by McCarthy and Joe Biden reached the deal to raise the $31.4tn US debt ceiling last weekend.
A default would be likely to have catastrophic consequences for the US and world economies. The treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, has said that will happen on 5 June if no bill is passed.
But members of the far-right the House Freedom Caucus have balked at the deal.
Chip Roy of Texas, who in January played a key role in securing the speakership for McCarthy after 15 rounds of voting, amid a rightwing rebellion, had perhaps the most pungent response.
He said the debt ceiling deal was a “turd sandwich”, because it did not include spending cuts demanded by the hard right.
Speaking to reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday, Roy said he had not changed his mind.
“Right now, it ain’t good,” he said.
Another rightwing firebrand, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, suggested he could back the bill, saying: “I think it’s important to keep in mind the debt limit bill itself does not spend money.”
But a comparative moderate, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, resorted to personal abuse of Biden when she said on Twitter: “Washington is broken. Republicans got outsmarted by a president who can’t find his pants. I’m voting no on the debt ceiling debacle because playing the DC game isn’t worth selling out our kids and grandkids.”
Republicans regularly claim without evidence that Biden, 80, is too old and mentally unfit to be president. Conversely, many political observers have credited Biden and his White House negotiators with pulling off a deal to avoid default while keeping Democrats on the front foot.
But Biden has also faced some criticism from progressives and from environmental activists, in the latter case over the inclusion in the deal of approval for a controversial pipeline in Virginia and West Virginia.
“Singling out the Mountain Valley pipeline for approval in a vote about our nation’s credit limit is an egregious act,” said Peter Anderson of Appalachian Voices, which has charted hundreds of environmental violations by the project.
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Republicans control the House by 222-213. By Tuesday afternoon, more than 20 Republicans had said they would vote against the deal. Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, has said the party should let default happen if Biden does not cave.
If defections proliferate, McCarthy could be left needing Democratic support to pass the bill arising from his White House deal and avoid default.
On Tuesday, the House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, said his party would do their part to win passage of the bill.
“My expectation is House Republicans will keep their commitment to produce at least two-thirds of their conference which is approximately 150 votes” and pass the bill, Jeffries said. “Democrats are committed to making sure we do our part in avoiding default.”
Jeffries said he did not think there would be a problem advancing the bill through the rules committee. That panel was due to consider the 99-page bill beginning at 3pm ET on Tuesday, ahead of votes in the Republican-controlled House and Democratic-held Senate.
Democrats control the Senate 51-49. Some Senate Republicans have voiced dissatisfaction with the deal.
On Tuesday, one of Biden’s negotiators, the budget director, Shalanda Young, said the White House “strongly urged” Congress to pass the bill. Wally Adeyemo, the deputy treasury secretary, told MSNBC the deal was a “good faith compromise” that took a debt default off the table.
Markets have reacted positively to the deal so far.
Reuters contributed reporting
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