America's Long National Debt Ceiling Nightmare Finally Over
Thank God Democrats know what they're doing.
Pop open the champagne because America can still buy champagne! The House of Representatives passed President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy's debt ceiling deal Wednesday night. This raises the debt limit until 2025, when Biden is either starting his second term or we have even greater problems.
You’d think avoiding a global economic catastrophe would be one of those easy, bipartisan wins, but unfortunately nothing’s quite that simple in this MAGA hell House. McCarthy's far-right goon squad held the nation’s full faith and credit hostage and demanded a ransom of unreasonable policy concessions they never could have passed otherwise. Biden negotiated a far better deal than we might’ve expected when dealing with gangsters, and now the House has advanced the Biden/McCarthy deal to the Democratic-controlled Senate, where normal people are in charge.
“314-117: The House passes the Biden-McCarthy debt ceiling agreement, raising the debt limit until 2025 and instituting discretionary spending caps for two years. 71 Republicans and 46 Democrats voted “no” on the bill.”
— The Recount (@The Recount) 1685582970
PREVIOUSLY:
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Kevin McCarthy Agrees To Lift Debt Ceiling In Exchange For Biden Letting Him Paint White House Fence
Republicans Giddy And Full Of Glee About Their Debt Ceiling 'Hostage' (America)
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The final vote was 314 to 117. Seventy-one Republicans and 46 Democrats voted "no." This means the deal McCarthy negotiated would not have passed without the Democratic votes that Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries ably delivered. Please don't blame any Democrats who voted "no." Democrats didn't want this deal under these circumstances. They wanted a clean debt ceiling bill. Republicans are the ones who needlessly created this situation, and ultimately McCarthy couldn't seal the deal on his own.
McCarthy and his allies had spent the past few days insisting that the deal hosed Democrats, who gained nothing. Rep. Dusty Johnson from the Main Street governance group said, “There were no wins for Democrats ... there is nothing out of the passage of this bill that will be more liberal or more progressive than it is today. It’s a remarkable conservative accomplishment."
Yet, ultimately more Democrats (165) voted for the deal than Republicans (149), so don't grouse about the relatively few Democrats who voted "no." That doesn't mean they're somehow in league with far-right nihilists. Their "nos" helped give some plausible deniability to fence-sitting Republicans that this wasn't some liberal dream bill ... and it's not.
The final vote did have the support of “a majority of the majority," thus satisfying the "Hastert Rule" against passing legislation with mostly Democratic votes. FormerRepublican House Speaker Dennis Hastert is an admitted "serial child molester,"so this is like Subway still having a"Jared Fogle Rule" on the books.
The 71 Republicans who voted "no" are 70 more Republicans than needed to trigger a motion to vacate and end McCarthy's undistinguished speakership. The global economy won't be at stake this time, so McCarthy can't count on Democrats saving him. He's actively hyped up how conservative (i.e. "awful") the debt ceiling bill is.
When CNN’s Manu Raju pointed out that the deal might actually increase funding for food stamp — based on common sense exemptions for veterans, homeless people, and youth coming out of foster care — McCarthy literally bet him that it does so screw the poor.
“Speaker McCarthy downplays concerns on right that debt limit suspension could authorize trillions in new borrowing. Bets me dinner that CBO got it wrong in estimating that new food stamp rules would cost the government more money. Says he's not concerned about his speakership”
— Manu Raju (@Manu Raju) 1685561186
More or less saying "I bet you dinner at a fancy DC restaurant that my deal reduces poor people’s access to food stamps" is some Simon LeGree shit. After the vote, McCarthy raved that “there are people on welfare today who will no longer be on welfare.” Let us know exactly how many kids will starve, Kevin, so we can get really excited.
Earlier this week, McCarthy boasted on Fox News that the debt ceiling deal would also force deadbeat kids off the couch.
“In this family, we may have a child that [is] able-bodied, not married, no kids, but he’s sitting on the couch collecting welfare,” he said. “We’re going to put work requirements on that individual, so he’s going to have work requi—he’s going to get a job. And he’s gonna make the life easier.”
We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that he meant adult children who live with their parents, like George Constanza, but it’s hard to tell with these guys.
Democrats can stand by their votes either way, because they ultimately helped save the global economy from collapse. However, McCarthy will have to face a mad MAGA caucus that deep down knows it just lost big.
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Childfucking Hastert rule, S&L scandal Hyde amendment — all this Republican criminality has been normalized. It’s infuriating,
He also has the benefit of going up against the clown show that is currently masquerading as leadership in the House. It's basically the difference between the High School valedictorian and the Kindergartner whose last name starts with A taking the SAT. Sure both graduated first in their class but ....