Rep. Dan Bishop said he has absolutely no faith in Kevin McCarthy, as he became the first Republican to publicly float the idea of ousting the president over the debt-limiting deal.
‘What basis is there for trust?’ After being the only speaker at a House Freedom Caucus press conference, Bishop asked reporters to raise their hands and say he would put the speaker’s firing motion “on the table.”
McCarthy’s top negotiators finally struck a deal with the White House over the weekend that suspends the debt ceiling until Jan. 1, 2025.
As part of a previous deal to become president, McCarthy agreed to a rule change that allowed a single member’s motion to leave – a member of either party can call a motion to leave and the president can lose the gavel if a simple majority votes for the motion.
Republican defectors estimate the deal would add $4 trillion to the national debt.
Other members of the right-wing Freedom Caucus were less direct in their suggestions that McCarthy could lose his presidency over what Bishop described as a “*** sandwich” of a deal.
When asked who supported a motion to oust President McCarthy if the debt limit deal passes, Rep. Dan Bishop raised his hand
“McCarthy has lost some confidence,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R.S.C., told reporters, but said, “I’m not going,” when asked about the motion to evacuation.
McCarthy told reporters he was not worried about a motion to rescind. ‘Tell me again. What did the Democrats put in there? he said, insisting the bill was a Republican victory.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said there would be a “count” if the bill passes.
“There will be accountability for what just happened unless we stop this bill,” he told reporters.
In an interview with Glenn Beck on Tuesday morning, Roy said if he can’t stop the bill in the proper way, “then we’ll have to regroup and redefine the whole leadership arrangement.”
Rep. Scott Perry, who leads the Freedom Caucus, said “I’ll let each member speak for themselves” when asked about the motion to rescind, but added “this deal fails, completely fails.”
“We will do everything in our power to stop it,” he added.
Rep. Byron Donalds didn’t rule out a possible ousting of McCarthy: “Look, I think that’s something that’s going to come up after this.”
The House Rules Committee will debate and vote on the bill this afternoon at 3 p.m. Two of the nine Republicans on the 13-member panel have already announced they will not vote to advance the bill to the House floor. It is not yet clear whether Democrats on the panel will vote to move the bill forward.
Freedom Caucus members talk about the debt ceiling deal struck between McCarthy and Biden
Representative Dan Bishop called the deal a ‘*** sandwich’
Rep. Patrick McHenry, chief negotiator and former deputy whip, predicted the deal would pass with the support of about half of the Republican conference.
“The Republican conference right now has been torn apart,” Roy said.
That would mean about 110 Democrats would need to vote for the bill for it to pass. The center-left NDP coalition, which has about 100 members, voted in favor of the bill on Monday.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries declined to say how many Democratic votes he might produce — saying he still expected Republicans to deliver the 150 GOP votes they promised him.
He also declined to say whether Democrats would step in to save McCarthy if right-wing rebels in his caucus stage a coup.
McCarthy won rare praise from Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., who opposed his presidency.
“I think McCarthy did his best to some degree,” she said.
Boebert shifted the blame from McCarthy to the Democrats. “McCarthy did his job. But sadly, Biden and the Democratic-controlled Senate haven’t done theirs. The House has done our job.
Republicans who oppose the bill waived the threat of default after the Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen said the nation could run out of money to pay its bills on June 5.
“I’m not buying ‘the sky is falling’ by Janet Yellen.” She moved the date three times,” Norman told reporters. ‘Which give? Tax revenue will come in. We are not going to default.
“Let’s call their bluff on this. The best deal is no deal. The moment you get up and walk away from the table is when Biden spent 97 days dithering in Japan and God knows where else he went.
The debt ceiling agreement includes $136 billion in budget cuts and suspends the debt ceiling until January 1, 2025 – after the 2024 election.
Some of the opposing Republicans, who passed a bill last month — the Limit, Save, Grow Act — that would only raise the ceiling by $1.5 trillion, say suspending the debt ceiling goes to the beyond what is needed and gives the Biden administration the ability to overspend for the next two years.
The deal also leaves discretionary non-defence spending unchanged in 2024 and allows for a 1% increase in 2025 – essentially equating to cuts since inflation is not taken into account.
