The House voted Wednesday night to approve a bill that would raise the debt ceiling for more than two years, giving the Senate just days to do the same before the US potentially runs out of money to pay its bills.
The vote was 314-117, with more Democrats than Republicans offering their approval. There were 71 Republicans opposed and 46 Democrats who voted against it.
The concessions needed to get the deal done proved to be unpopular with certain members on both sides of the aisle, complicating efforts to squeeze legislation through Congress before a default on US debt. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that day could come as early as Monday.
“Every great nation that overextends itself has collapsed,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said in a speech before the votes were counted Wednesday night.
President Biden in a statement praised “Speaker McCarthy and his team for negotiating in good faith.”
The agreement, he added, "is a bipartisan compromise. Neither side got everything it wanted."
The centerpiece of the legislation negotiated by McCarthy and Biden is a cap on federal spending. It would hold spending flat for 2024 and impose new limits for 2025 without touching Social Security or Medicare while boosting spending on the military by 3%.
The legislation would also increase work requirements in order to qualify for food assistance, an incentive for people to find jobs.
In exchange, the nation’s borrowing limit would be boosted for more than two more years. That would take the full faith and credit of the US off the negotiating table through the next presidential election and give the markets an extended breather on an issue that regularly threatens economic chaos.
Some House Republicans wanted the spending cuts to be deeper, as proposed in a separate piece of legislation passed by GOP lawmakers in April.
But Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry, who was on McCarthy's negotiating team, called it 'the most conservative spending package during my time in Congress," adding that "for the first time in a debt-limit negotiation, the US will spend less money than it did the year before."
The bill now requires 60 votes in the Senate, where Democrats hold a slim 51-49 majority. One challenge there is whether a vote can happen quickly or not.
It can if all 100 senators agree, setting up a vote before the end of the week. But any one senator can choose to hold things up for days with amendment votes.
At least one Republican senator, Mike Lee, has warned that he might offer resistance. On Wednesday he called the bill a “fake response to burdensome debt” and said he “will emphatically vote no.”
He pledged to file "a bunch of amendments" but also suggested he wouldn't hold up the bill past Monday as long as votes are held on his amendments.
Senator Rand Paul has also said he wants a vote on deeper spending cuts.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has told members that they should be prepared for “potential Friday and weekend votes” because of ‘the time it may take to process the legislation in the Senate without cooperation.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has asked his colleagues to “swiftly” approve the bill.
“The deadline to raise the debt ceiling is rapidly approaching, and the likelihood of triggering a negative market reaction with severe economic consequences will only increase as we approach the precipice,” Business Roundtable CEO Joshua Bolten said in a statement after the House vote.
“We call on the Senate to eliminate the threat of a default by passing this bipartisan bill as soon as possible.”
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