House passes debt ceiling deal

UPDATE: Thursday, Jun 1, 2023 · 1:34:30 AM +00:00 · Joan McCarter

Yep. They hate it. 

Biggs is not happy that debt deal passed with more Democrats than Republicans "We were told they'd never put a bill on the floor that would take more Democrats than Rs to pass. We were told that."

— Sarah Ferris (@sarahnferris) June 1, 2023

UPDATE: Thursday, Jun 1, 2023 · 1:26:52 AM +00:00 · Joan McCarter

The deal passed easily, 314 to 177, with more Democratic than Republican votes. The best thing about a vote that big is that it will make Mike Lee and Rand Paul look more ridiculous when they try to hold it up in the Senate. Also that McCarthy owes so much to the Democrats. The Freedom Caucus guys are going to HATE that,

UPDATE: Thursday, Jun 1, 2023 · 12:39:59 AM +00:00 · Joan McCarter

Ugh. Yeah, they’re still yammering. 

Mike Lee is on the House floor, huddling with Andy Biggs and Chip Roy

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) June 1, 2023

UPDATE: Wednesday, May 31, 2023 · 10:12:12 PM +00:00 · Joan McCarter

The closed rule—no amendments allowed, passed pretty easily 241-187. There were 52 Democratic yes votes, and 29 Republican noes. There might not be as many Dems in support when it comes to final passage, and they’ll probably hold out, letting Republicans go first and then determining how many of them will be needed to help pass it. The House is scheduled to pick up again at 7:15 PM, ET to proceed to final passage.

The debt ceiling/budget bill worked out between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will hit the House floor Wednesday afternoon, in a massive blow to the Freedom Caucus maniacs who have been rooting for the nation to default on its debt and for economic catastrophe. Their short rebellion fizzled, and McCarthy may get at least 150 Republican votes on the plan.

The major part of the drama was over once Rep. Tom Massie, a Kentucky Republican, said he would vote the bill out of the Rules Committee. Freedom Caucus Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, and Ralph Norman of South Carolina couldn’t convince him to play spoiler, despite histrionics from Roy throughout the day and his dire warning that “The Republican conference has been torn asunder.”

SIGN: End the Debt Limit game of blackmail. Pass real reform.

What has been torn asunder is the control the Freedom Caucus thought they had over McCarthy. That was clear once members of the group started downplaying their one big card: the motion to vacate the chair. It takes only one member to start the ball rolling on ousting McCarthy from the speakership, and it became clear quickly that there was little appetite among the rebels to even try. Even “firebrand” Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene will likely vote for the bill in the end.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene likens raising the debt ceiling to a “shit sandwich” but is a lean yes. “I'm a dessert girl. Everyone loves dessert and that's impeachment, someone needs to be impeached,” she adds.

— Juliegrace Brufke (@juliegraceb) May 30, 2023

The deal pretty effectively neuters the Freedom Caucus and limits the damage House Republicans can do between now and Jan. 1, 2025. They can’t take the debt ceiling hostage again in the next year and a half, and they can’t shut down the government by refusing to complete spending bills without doing serious political damage to themselves.

From a progressive perspective, the bill isn’t great, and most in the Progressive Caucus probably won’t support it. They don’t have to. There will be enough Republican votes and votes from other Democrats to pass the bill. From a political and economic stability perspective, the bill is fantastic. It averts economic catastrophe and neutralizes the Freedom Caucus in one go. In other words, Biden wins in a big way.

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We have Rural Organizing’s Aftyn Behn. Markos and Aftyn talk about what has been happening in rural communities across the country and progressives’ efforts to engage those voters. Behn also gives the podcast a breakdown of which issues will make the difference in the coming elections.

Newt Gingrich Predicts Democrats Will Throw Away Congress ‘Once Again’ With ‘Radical’ Budget Agenda

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich spoke out on Friday to predict that Democrats will throw away their control of Congress with a “radical” budget agenda.

He said this on Fox News after they passed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus package.

Gingrich Comments On Democrats

Gingrich said that Democrats “have clearly decided” that they will “go for broke on a radical agenda,” adding that this “almost certainly guarantees” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) will take over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) role.

“[L]et me start and point out this is the third time they’ve done this,” Gingrich said. “Bill Clinton passed a huge tax increase with no Republicans, and in 1994, they lost 54 seats in the House. Pelosi and others rammed through bills with no Republicans, and in 2010, they lost 63 seats in the House.”

“What the Democrats have now clearly decided is that they are going to go for broke on a radical agenda,” he added.

“They’re going to do everything they can without any Republicans, and that means that they are going to own everything in the election of 2022, and [that] almost certainly guarantees that Kevin McCarthy is the next Speaker and that the Democrats will, in fact once again for the third time have thrown away control of the Congress,” Gingrich said.

Related: Gingrich: Pelosi Impeachment Push Is Because She’s Scared Trump Might Run Again – And Win

Gingrich Says Pelosi Is ‘Hysterical’

Later in this interview, Gingrich said that Pelosi is “hysterical” because she is losing a grip on her speakership.

“That five-vote margin is going to break down sometime this spring as members start to say, ‘Hey, I can’t go back home if I keep voting like a radical.’ And at that point, McCarthy will be the functional leader of the House,” he claimed.

This comes weeks after Gingrich blasted Pelosi as the “most destructive Speaker in history.”

“First off, she keeps violating the Constitution,” Gingrich said of Pelosi. “The latest impeachment is just a simple example.”

“She uses her power ruthlessly and she has really pushed through the most radical positions ever taken by an American Speaker, including abolishing mother and father and uncle and aunt and son and daughter as words, literally trying to strip out any gender reference from the House of Representatives,” he added. “I think she’s very dangerous.”

Read Next: Newt Gingrich Eviscerates Pelosi – ‘Most Destructive Speaker In History’

This piece was written by James Samson on February 6, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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