In a narrow 7-6 vote, the House Rules Committee advanced the Fiscal Responsibility Act for a full House vote Wednesday night.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) was the deciding vote to advance the bill.
ABC News reported:
The House Rules Committee gave the green light for the Fiscal Responsibility Act to advance to the full House so members can hold a planned vote on Wednesday night before sending the legislation to the Senate ahead of Monday’s default deadline.
The panel advanced the bill to the floor for debate in a narrow 7-6 vote.
In a big win for Republican leadership, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky — a GOP hard-liner and fiscal hawk — voted in favor of the rule.
“Today’s bill is a product of compromise and reflects the realities of a divided government,” Oklahoma Republican Rep. Tom Cole, who supported the rule for the proposal, said as he began the meeting.
In his own remarks, Massie said, “My interest in being on this committee was not to imprint my ideology. I think that is an inappropriate use of the committee.” He later told reporters he planned to vote for the deal on the floor.
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“I respect opposition to the Fiscal Responsibility Act, but I am voting yes. I’ve been in Congress for a decade and this is the first real bill that cuts spending. It also includes an automatic 1% cut to spending on January 1 if Congress doesn’t pass the 12 appropriations bills,” Massie wrote.
I respect opposition to the Fiscal Responsibility Act, but I am voting yes.
I’ve been in Congress for a decade and this is the first real bill that cuts spending.
It also includes an automatic 1% cut to spending on January 1 if Congress doesn’t pass the 12 appropriations bills.
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) May 31, 2023
There remains staunch opposition to the Fiscal Responsibility Act, especially in the House Freedom Caucus.
The caucus hasn’t ruled out the possibility of filing a motion to vacate the chair if McCarthy pushes the deal through.
WATCH:
🚨BREAKING: House Freedom Caucus leaves open possibility of filing a motion to vacate the chair if Speaker McCarthy pushes through the debt deal
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) May 30, 2023
The Hill provided a list of Republicans who said they will vote against raising the debt ceiling.
Here are the House Republicans who say they will vote against the bill.
Republican ‘no’ votes
ADVERTISEMENTRep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.)
Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.)
Bishop labeled the deal a “disaster.”
And he took his criticism a step further on Tuesday, publicly expressing support for ousting McCarthy over the debt limit deal he struck with Biden.
“I think it’s got to be done,” Bishop told reporters.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.)
Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.)
Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.)
ADVERTISEMENTRep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.)
Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.)
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.)
Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.)
Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.)
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.)
Rep. Russell Fry (R-S.C.)
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)
Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.)
Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.)
Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.)
Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas)
ADVERTISEMENTHunt, a freshman congressman, said the concessions McCarthy made to Biden in negotiations over the debt limit “fall short of my expectations and the expectations of my friends and neighbors in Congressional District 38.”
He said the debt limit legislation does not rescind all of the funding the Internal Revenue Service received in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act, and that it does not include “a vast portion of H.R. 1,” the GOP conference’s sweeping energy bill.
“For these reasons and more, I will be voting NO on the Biden-McCarthy proposal to raise our nation’s Debt Ceiling. I urge my Republican colleagues to do the same,” he wrote on Twitter.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.)
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.)
“I’m voting NO on the debt ceiling debacle because playing the DC game isn’t worth selling out our kids and grandkids,” Mace wrote.
She argued the agreement “normalizes high spending started during the pandemic” and said the spending cuts included in the bill are a “wash” because of spending increases in other areas.
She took issue with a provision that will expedite completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline — a major priority of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) — which Mace said was not germane to the bill.
Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.)
Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.)
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.)
Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.)
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas)
Roy, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, railed against the debt limit legislation during a press conference on Tuesday, dubbing it a “bad bill.”
“I want to be very clear: not one Republican should vote for this deal. Not one,” Roy said. “If you’re out there watching this, every one of my colleagues, I’m gonna be very clear: not one Republican should vote for this deal. It is a bad deal.”
Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.)
Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.)
Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.)
Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas)
Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.)
“The Speaker himself has said on numerous occasions, the greatest threat to America is our debt, and now is the time to act,” Perry, the chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus said at a press conference Tuesday. “We had the time to act and this deal fails, fails completely.”
He referenced the debt limit bill House Republicans passed last month, which outlined more aggressive spending cuts than the Biden-McCarthy deal.
“We’re here to let you and the American people know that Speaker McCarthy had a mandate from the American people, negotiated with the 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. This deal that we’ve heard about totally fails to deliver on all of it,” Perry said.
Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas)
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) and Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) were listed as potential no votes by the outlet.
Axios provided further details on the votes McCarthy needs to pass the bill:
McCarthy's lieutenants hope to get 150 of the 222 GOP Republican House members to vote yes, and virtually assure passage of the bill.
"I want Republican votes," Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), a key member of McCarthy's negotiating team, told reporters late Tuesday. "That would be the cleanest way for me to show it was a good bill for Republicans.”
But a big Democratic vote for the bill — say, well over a majority of the 213 Democrats in the 435-member House — could bolster the notion held by some lawmakers in each party: that Biden outfoxed GOP negotiators.
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