Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s debt limit deal has spawned such bad blood within the House Republican Conference that it threatens to upend the rest of the GOP’s agenda for this year.
He is struggling to appease the conservative hard-liners as he looks ahead to new flash points with appropriations bills, a tax overhaul and other top priorities.
“We’ve got a small majority. There’s a little chaos going,” said Mr. McCarthy, California Republican. “We’re just going to work through the agenda and get everything done.”
The biggest obstacle for Mr. McCarthy at the moment is restoring order to the House of Representatives.
Earlier this week, 11 conservatives Republicans allied with the House Freedom Caucus blocked several GOP bills from reaching the floor for a vote, eventually forcing Mr. McCarthy to cancel Congress’ business for the rest of the week and send House lawmakers home.
The rebels are upset over Mr. McCarthy’s deal with President Biden to suspend the $32.4 trillion debt limit beyond the 2024 presidential election and passing the deal with the help of Democratic votes.
SEE ALSO: Speaker McCarthy eyes new commission to tackle nation’s debt, but many Democrats are wary
Conservative hard-liners are pushing Mr. McCarthy to rule out relying on Democrats to overcome GOP opposition in the future.
“There’s a lack of confidence with the speaker and [his] leadership,” said Rep. Ralph Norman, South Carolina Republican. “And we told him that.”
Democrats hold a narrow 51-49 seat majority within the Senate and would be unlikely to pass wholesale conservative legislation emanating from the House. Even if they did, Mr. Biden could exercise his veto power to scrap conservative priorities from becoming law.
Nowhere is the problem more acute than in the appropriations process. Congress must pass a funding bill by Sept. 30 or risk a government shutdown.
Freedom Caucus hard-liners are pushing Mr. McCarthy to agree to a $130 billion spending cut. That is outside the debt limit agreement, which keeps domestic spending flat while hiking the defense budget by more than 3%.
Mr. McCarthy insists there is wiggle room to cut spending.
“Whenever you put a cap, that’s the ceiling. We can always spend less. I’ve always advocated for spending less,” he said.
Democrats disagree. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had a simple “no” answer when asked if Democrats would accept a budget below the spending level in the deal.
Things do not look any easier as Congress contemplates a tax package to beef up U.S. manufacturing ahead of the Trump-era tax cuts expiring in 2025.
House Republicans are prepping a wish list of tax cuts, including ones allowing businesses to write off the depreciation of assets quicker, on top of extending the Trump-era rates. Freedom Caucus hard-liners also want to claw back more than $200 billion in green energy tax credits passed by Democrats last year.
Democrats are likely to oppose those plans, though they are open to keeping the Trump-era tax cuts for middle-class families. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, Oregon Democrat, did not rule out a bipartisan tax package but said the two sides are far apart.
He said that Democrats would push for any tax changes that benefit businesses to be offset with programs for needy families, like a renewal of the expanded child tax credit.
• Haris Alic can be reached at halic@washingtontimes.com.
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