'There are some bitter pills for different members and different constituencies in different districts, but overall, this is a must pass bill,' she said. Annie Kuster, who chairs the centrist New Democrat Coalition which provided 91 Democratic votes Wednesday, told NPR she anticipated the vote coming from 'the middle out.' 'There was a group of us who felt strongly that while we didn't like the bill and we didn't like the way it was negotiated in many ways, we weren't going to let our country go over a fiscal cliff, and that had to be our guiding force,' she said. Michigan Democrat Elissa Slotkin told reporters ahead of the vote the deal is 'imperfect' but necessary.

McCarthy told reporters late Wednesday night he isn't concerned about a threat to his gavel.Īs for Democrats, some members were vocal about their struggle between wanting to pass a bill to avoid a potentially catastrophic default and voting for legislation with provisions their constituents don't support, like work requirements and speeding up permitting on energy projects. But there was renewed dismay among some Freedom Caucus members Wednesday night - particularly around the fact that more Democrats supported the bill than Republicans - that could reignite calls to consider a motion to vacate. GOP members left a closed-door conference meeting Tuesday night largely quashing the idea that disaffected members could move to oust McCarthy under a provision he agreed to during his fight for the speakership that allows any single lawmaker to bring up a snap vote to potentially oust the speaker. 'But they should compare to where we were at, which was we were going to get a clean debt ceiling with nothing.' Don Bacon, R-Neb., said ahead of the vote. 'People want to compare to what they wanted,' Rep. I want to thank Speaker McCarthy and his team for negotiating in good faith, as well as Leader Jeffries for his leadership.'Įducation Is the debt deal changing student loan repayment? Here's what you need to knowĪ bloc of conservative members expressed their alarm at some of the provisions in the bill, and argued McCarthy didn't align the bill close enough to a version the House passed in April.

'Tonight, the House took a critical step forward to prevent a first-ever default and protect our country's hard-earned and historic economic recovery,' Biden said in a statement. Ultimately, Democrats played a larger role than Republicans in its passage: 165 Democrats joined 149 Republicans to approve the bill. There had been a question as to whether Democrats would supply just enough votes for the bill to pass to avoid a default or if they would come out in force in support of Biden. With his narrow majority, McCarthy carried out a balancing act - crafting a deal that satisfied the demands of the majority of his conference without alienating some of the Democratic lawmakers he needed to support the bill in order for it to pass. The high stakes negotiations and subsequent passage of the bill were a critical test for McCarthy as speaker. The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 overwhelmingly cleared the chamber Wednesday evening with a 314-117 vote. House lawmakers have passed a piece of compromise legislation brokered between President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to avoid an unprecedented debt default with just days to spare. Patrick McHenry and Garret Graves, his top negotiators for the debt ceiling bill, during a news conference after its passage in the House. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy talks with Reps.

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