- House Freedom Caucus members are disappointed in the debt ceiling deal
- Republicans and the White House reached an ‘agreement in principle’ to avoid default
- A member call was held at 9:30pm as the government attempts to raise the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling
Two top Republicans in the House still don’t seem too happy with the preliminary deal Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached with President Joe Biden to raise the debt ceiling.
Biden and McCarthy reached a deal ‘in principle’ late Saturday to end a months-long stalemate and raise the federal government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling.
Rep. Bob Good, a member of the conservative and powerful House Freedom Caucus, expressed objections to the deal during a Saturday evening call, multiple sources told CNN.
Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry also raised concern on that call.
Perry noted that he was disappointed that they are agreeing to raise the debt limit by more than the U.S. would save.
Republican Main Street Caucus head Dusty Johnson told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday morning that most ‘pragmatic’ conservatives are not against the deal.
‘When you’re saying conservatives have concerns, it is really the most colorful conservatives,’ the South Dakota congressman said.
Johnson added: ‘Overwhelmingly, Republicans in this conference are going to support the deal. How could they not? It is a fantastic deal.’
McCarthy emerged from the call late Saturday night to say that he will speak again with the president after his granddaughter’s graduation on Sunday.
‘I thought the call went really well with the members,’ McCarthy said at the Capitol, adding that he would work through the night to complete the language of the bill.
The reports of pushback from within McCarthy’s party further proves that the GOP is not on the same page and exhibits the fractions within the majority in the House – especially between the more conservative members.
Rep. Jim Jordan, the Judiciary chairman and former Freedom Caucus leader, sounded more upbeat about the deal on the Saturday call.
McCarthy continued to downplay some anger within the Republican Conference on Sunday morning, telling Fox that ‘more than 95 percent’ of House Republicans are ‘very excited’ about the debt limit deal.
The deal would avert an economically destabilizing default, so long as they succeed in passing it through the narrowly divided Congress before the Treasury Department runs short of money to cover all its obligations.
The Treasury warned on Friday that this would occur if the debt ceiling is not raised by June 5.
