(Washington Examiner) Several members of the House Freedom Caucus are openly seeking to derail the debt limit deal that was brokered by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), with some members questioning the Republican leader’s loyalty to the party.
The House Rules Committee is scheduled to meet at 3 p.m. to vote on advancing the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which would raise the debt ceiling while also implementing a number of spending cuts as a result of negotiations between McCarthy and President Joe Biden. Several hard-line Republicans are unhappy with the deal, with many urging their colleagues to vote against it, even as the country creeps closer to the June 5 default deadline.
“Speaker McCarthy had a mandate from the American people negotiated with a powerful negotiation position of a unified Republican Party, not only just in the House but in the House and the Senate, to hold the line for the bill that we passed,” Caucus Chairman Scott Perry (R-PA) said on Tuesday. “This bill that we’ve heard about totally failed to deliver on all of it.”
At least 20 Republicans so far have vowed to vote against the bill, with a majority of those hailing from the House Freedom Caucus, a gaggle of lawmakers who were unlikely to support any negotiated agreement that offered less than what already included in the Limit, Save, Grow Act that passed the House last month. But Republicans in the caucus say it’s not enough and are calling on their GOP colleagues to sink the bill altogether.
“Not one Republican should vote for this deal,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX). “It’s a bad deal.”
Roy was one of the first Republicans to come out against the deal shortly after it was announced on Saturday, criticizing the bill as bending to Democratic demands without holding the line on several GOP priorities.
The deal has prompted some Republicans to call on McCarthy to kill it, with others questioning whether it’s enough to reconsider his speakership.
“I think it’s got to be done,” Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) said when asked if Republicans would consider a motion to vacate. “I think it is a question of the time and place … of those people who have the courage to deal with this problem for the American people.”
