Debt ceiling vote news: Biden-McCarthy plan passes, heads to Senate

At his news conference after the House passed the debt bill tonight, McCarthy said that while "I speak to President Trump, we didn’t talk much about the bill."

Trump had called on Republicans to allow a default if they didn't get "EVERYTHING THEY WANT (Including the 'kitchen sink')" in a post on Truth Social this month. Tonight, in his first comments on the actual deal, he said, "It is what it is."

Schumer just placed the debt limit bill on the Senate calendar so senators can start the process to pass it tomorrow. The measure could take several days to get through the Senate, depending on whether all senators agree to move forward quickly.

“There’s been a very good vote in the House. I hope we can move the bill quickly here in the Senate and bring it to the president’s desk as soon as possible," Schumer said.

Right up until the end, the White House was exploring contingency plans in case the high-stakes talks with Republicans to raise the debt ceiling and avert economic disaster collapsed.

The White House was considering the unprecedented step of bypassing Congress altogether and invoking the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which states that “the validity of the public debt … shall not be questioned.” 

President Joe Biden worried that there wasn’t enough time for the inevitable court challenge to play out if he went down that road. But he took the idea seriously — so seriously that the White House counsel’s office consulted at least two outside legal experts about the 14th Amendment just days before the deal was announced, people familiar with the matter said. 

A lead House negotiator in the showdown with Biden, Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., told reporters Wednesday that had Republicans spurned negotiations and let the nation default on its debt, it would have resulted “in the president trying to invoke the 14th Amendment,” as well as a missed opportunity for Republicans to press for spending cuts.

But that break-glass option wouldn’t be needed.

Read the full story here.

In remarks after the vote tonight, McCarthy said House Republicans were victorious in achieving a key goal to cut spending.

"Tonight we made history," McCarthy said.

He said that since he was elected speaker, he had been thinking about the debt ceiling and this legislation.

"Is it everything I wanted? No. But sitting with one House, with a Democratic Senate and a Democratic president who didn't want to meet with us — I think we did pretty dang good for the American public," he added.

McCarthy's sentiments were echoed by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., who suggested that the debt ceiling was just "the beginning" of an effort to change how money is spent in Washington.

"Nobody said it would be easy to break Washington’s out-of-control spending pattern," Scalise said. "It’s just the beginning. This is by far not the end. It is the beginning of changing the pattern of spending in Washington."

Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., who floated forcing a vote to remove McCarthy as speaker over the debt deal this week, also known as a "motion to vacate," said tonight that the discussion will happen "in the next week or two."

"What happened was conservatives joined with McCarthy to get McCarthy elected. Now Democrats have joined with McCarthy to pass bills," Buck said. "So there was a big reassessment of the coalition for power in the House. ... There will be a discussion, motion to vacate. Yeah. Stay tuned.

"My constituents are furious," Buck continued. "And you know what's so interesting about the calls in the district? They are not only 'Vote against this bill,' but they are 'Take McCarthy out.'"

Asked for his reaction if Democrats stepped in to save McCarthy on a motion to vacate, Buck responded: "It's like a date with a eunuch."

Asked to elaborate, he said, "He does not have much power when he relies on Democrats to keep him as speaker."

Democratic Whip Katherine Clark celebrated passing the deal through the House, saying her party has upheld its commitment to the American people.

"From the beginning of this manufactured crisis, Democrats have been committed to doing what is responsible — preventing a catastrophic default and protecting the services Americans rely on. Tonight, we upheld that commitment," Clark, D-Mass., said in a statement.

She also slammed "MAGA Republicans," alleging that they "forced a lose-lose proposition onto the American people: devastating cuts or a devastating default."

“There is no perfect negotiation when you’re the victim of extortion. But under the leadership of President Biden, we fought for core Democratic priorities and won, protecting Social Security, Medicare, climate resiliency, veterans’ benefits, and health care," Clark added.

Biden expressed relief in a statement tonight over a "critical step forward" to prevent default while urging the Senate to quickly pass the legislation.

"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. This budget agreement is a bipartisan compromise. Neither side got everything it wanted. That’s the responsibility of governing," Biden said.

Biden thanked McCarthy for "negotiating in good faith" and touted the agreement's protections for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

"It protects critical programs that millions of hardworking families, students, and veterans count on," Biden said. "I have been clear that the only path forward is a bipartisan compromise that can earn the support of both parties. This agreement meets that test."

House Republican unity around McCarthy's debt ceiling plan forced Biden to the table and got new federal spending cuts, McConnell tweeted Wednesday night.

"Tonight’s passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act is an important step in the right direction. Now, it’s the Senate’s turn to pass this agreement without delay," he added.

Biden aide Steve Ricchetti ordered pizza tonight for White House staff members who watched the vote in the West Wing, a White House official said.

The official said Ricchetti, who was called on to negotiate directly with McCarthy’s team, and Louisa Terrell, the director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs, were among those monitoring the vote.

The House has just gaveled the vote, formally passing the debt ceiling bill, which now goes to the Senate ahead of Monday's deadline to act.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act was passed on a 314-117 vote, with 71 Republicans and 46 Democrats voting against it.

Lawmakers applauded the bill's passage.

The House tonight has reached the 218-vote majority needed to pass the debt ceiling bill, in spite of opposition from some hard-line Republicans.

While some votes could change and the legislation hasn’t formally passed just yet, it now appears to have the votes to clear the lower chamber and be sent to the Senate. It will be official when the chamber gavels the vote and reads the final tally.

As the vote tally cleared 218, someone could be heard shouting with excitement in the chamber.

Former President Donald Trump responded to the debt ceiling deal for the first time on WHO radio in Des Moines, Iowa, as lawmakers were wrapping up debate on the House floor before the vote.

“Well, it is what it is," he said. “It has passed. And I guess I knew it was going to passed … but we’ll get it properly fixed in two years.”

The deal has not yet passed. But it is expected to soon.

Asked by host Simon Conway about his statement this month that he’d allow the country to default if there weren’t significant spending cuts, Trump said: “Well, I would have done that."

"I think it was an opportunity, but they got something done. Kevin worked really hard," he added, referring to McCarthy. "I would have taken a different stance, but it’s done. … We’ll get it fixed in two years."

President Biden is being updated on the House floor debate and vote tonight by his staff as he heads to Colorado in preparation for a commencement address Thursday, a White House official said.

The official also said White House staff members have been touch with members tonight, as well.

The vote has started. A majority of members will need to agree to pass it.

Several Democrats are expected to be needed to send it to the Senate, given some Republican upset.

The vote is scheduled for 15 minutes, but it is likely to go over time. McCarthy is scheduled to hold a news conference afterward.

Ahead of the vote, McCarthy declared that passing the Fiscal Responsibility Act would deliver hope to American families and warned lawmakers against voting against it.

“I for one, Mr. Speaker, don’t want to be on the wrong side of history. Yeah, I could say I’m going to vote no because there’s something not in the bill. If I took that philosophy, I would never vote yes. I simply read the bills in front of me and decide, 'Is this good for the country?' I would say that answer is easily yes," McCarthy said on the House floor during the debate.

"When you vote on this bill today, somebody will have a better job tomorrow because of your vote. Families will be stronger and more self-sufficient. People will be lifted out of poverty," he added. "This is going to save families money and make America less dependent on China, changing America for the better for decades to come."

The House started one hour of debate on the debt ceiling deal at 7:15 p.m. ET. It is scheduled to begin voting at 8:30 p.m. ET to pass the bill and send it to the Senate.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, took to the floor to express his fierce opposition to the debt limit agreement, which he labeled a “deal from hell.”

“This deal begs the question, with Republicans like these who needs Democrats? We deserve better,” he said. “We deserve a deal that genuinely reflects the urgency of our economic challenges and delivers meaningful results.”

Lee said earlier today that he is “filing a bunch of amendments” on the debt limit deal once it gets to the upper chamber. But he suggested he won't hold the bill up past Monday's deadline as long as he gets votes on them.

Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., one of McCarthy's allies who helped negotiate the debt ceiling deal in the room, challenge conservative opponents to debate the merits ahead of tonight's vote.

“I will go on any TV station with anyone opposing the debt ceiling bill to debate the most conservative option,” he tweeted.

Asked by reporters today about his stance on eliminating the debt ceiling altogether, McCarthy said, "I like having a debt limit."

"It’s a check and balance," McCarthy said. "You want to keep it in check. If you eliminate it, people here, they just want to spend money all the time."

McCarthy continued to praise his debt ceiling agreement with Biden to reporters, saying there is nothing in the bill that GOP members should be "negative about."

"Don't sit back and say, 'I wanted something so much more,'" he said when he was asked what he is telling his members who are on the fence. "Yeah, there's a lot of things I want, too, but this is one that moves us in the right direction."

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said he got into a "robust debate" with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., in front of Democratic senators at a private lunch today about a provision in the deal that would expedite the approval of a natural gas pipeline.

“It’s slimy,” Kaine said of including the approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which would pass through Virginia and is a key priority of Manchin’s. “It didn’t have to go on the debt ceiling bill. I mean, for God’s sake, does this company really feel like they’re as important as the creditworthiness of the United States?” 

But Kaine’s most pointed criticism was for the White House, which he said did not consult him.

“This is a Virginia project, and they didn’t even bother to pick up the phone and call me?” Kaine asked reporters. “Have I made them mad?

"No, I’m the one they called to try to get Cabinet secretaries confirmed. ‘Go talk to your colleagues. They’re not yet going to vote for Julie Su. Go talk to somebody else, because they’re not going to —'" he said, cutting himself off as he described requests from the White House. "They call me and asked me to help out, so, like, what did I do wrong all of a sudden?”

Kaine helped block expediting the pipeline last year when Manchin tried to attach it to the National Defense Authorization Act.

“I’ve for years said we’re not going to put our thumb on the scale, and now the White House in Congress is set to put the thumb on the scale," he said Wednesday.

Manchin said that Kaine is “putting up a gallant fight” and that “I respect where he’s coming from."

“For anyone to say it hasn’t been reviewed and we bypass any process as far as the environmental concerns, it’s been through everything multiple times,” Manchin said.

Once the debt bill comes over to the Senate, Kaine plans to offer an amendment to strip the pipeline provision out. But any changes at this stage would send the whole bill back to the House, and Congress is on a tight timeline to avoid default.

Kaine wouldn't say he'd hold up the bill over his amendment, but he said he'd be "unhappy" if only Republicans get votes on amendments. Still, he acknowledged it will be an "uphill" battle to get it through. "I can count ... but just give me the vote."

Asked about Democrats' holding back until the last minute to back the "rule" — a procedure on the debt ceiling that sets it up for a final vote later tonight — McCarthy laughed.

"I probably would have done the same thing," he said after Democrats clearly waited to see whether Republicans could pass the rule on their own before Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries gave the green light.

"Well played," McCarthy added.

Ultimately, 52 Democrats voted in support.

The House passed the "rule" for the debt ceiling bill, clearing a key vote that sets it up for final passage later tonight. The rule passed 241-187, with 29 Republicans voting against it.

Fifty-two Democrats ended up voting for the rule and were instrumental to the outcome. They kept their powder dry early on, waiting to see how many Republicans would vote for it before they backed it.

The House will now debate the debt ceiling bill and then vote on the legislation later in the evening. The exact timing is fluid, but if the bill passes, it would then go to the Senate.

Read the full story here.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who tweeted last week that he would "use every procedural tool" at his disposal to hold up the debt ceiling deal if it didn't "contain substantial spending and budgetary reforms," said today he won't push this bill past the Monday deadline if he gets votes on some of his amendments.

Lee just told reporters that he is “filing a bunch of amendments,” but he said, “I won’t necessarily be seeking votes on each of them.” He'll release the amendments later today.

“I don’t have any desire to hold it up for the sake of holding it up,” he said, “If they’ll allow us to get votes on our amendments, I see no reason to hold it up.”

Without unanimous agreement from all senators, the Senate may not be able to pass the debt ceiling bill until Tuesday — a day after the deadline.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., will vote against the debt ceiling bill, he announced today.

"At a time of massive wealth and income inequality I cannot, in good conscience, vote for a bill that takes vital nutrition assistance away from women, infants, children, and seniors, while refusing to ask billionaires who have never had it so good to pay a penny more in taxes," Sanders said in a statement, topping off a list of his complaints.

Sanders also called the bill "totally unnecessary" and said he looks forward to the day Biden eliminates the debt ceiling by invoking the 14th Amendment.

"I look forward to the day when he exercises this authority and puts an end, once and for all, to the outrageous actions of the extreme right-wing to hold our entire economy hostage in order to get what they want," he wrote.

Biden sounded an optimistic tone that the deal he struck with McCarthy would be “one step closer” by the end of the week, despite growing opposition from Democrats’ left flank.

“I think things are going as planned, God willing,” he said today when he was asked about his response to progressive members, some of whom say they plan to vote against the bipartisan agreement.

Biden, who is traveling to Colorado today, said he expects the bill to move forward tonight. “God willing, by the time I land, Congress will have acted, the House will have acted, and we’ll be one step closer,” he said.

If the bill passes the House tonight, the U.S. still could miss Monday’s debt ceiling deadline because of delay tactics in the Senate.

A bill can be considered almost immediately with the agreement of all 100 senators, but on the flip side, any one senator can object and slow consideration. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has already said he would “use every procedural tool at my disposal to impede a debt-ceiling deal that doesn’t contain substantial spending and budgetary reforms.”

Without an agreement, the Senate could be forced to wait until Tuesday, a day after Treasury's deadline, to send the bill to Biden's desk.

Senate leaders are likely to try to come to some kind of agreement on allowing senators a series of amendment votes to speed things up. The amendments would almost certainly all fail, to avoid blowing up the deal, but they would give senators a chance to vote their opinions and get their colleagues on the record, as well.

Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., said this morning that “the universe is half a dozen” potential GOP amendments. "I think if we could get a reasonable agreement on processing at least a handful of amendments, then everything moves," he said.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has urged members to move quickly: "Senators must be prepared to act with urgency to send a final product to the president’s desk before the June 5 deadline."

McCarthy's announcement this morning that he'll establish a bipartisan commission to examine the budget comes just a few months after he rejected the idea.

Back in February, after he visited the White House for his first debt ceiling meeting with Biden, McCarthy told reporters: "Look, I don’t need a commission to tell me where there’s waste, fraud and abuse. I don’t need a commission to tell us where we’re spending too much. I don’t need a commission to tell us we’re $31 trillion debt. Nobody needs a commission in the American public to tell us that we have spent too much, just like any family."

Asked this morning what changed, McCarthy said: "I was opposed to the idea to just lift the debt ceiling and say some commission will handle the problem in the future.

"This is a problem for all of America," he continued. "So why don’t we be adults about it? Why don’t we sit in a room together? Why don’t we have honest discussions and come together and get some real reforms that we’re not going debt ceiling to debt ceiling? The debt ceiling is coming Jan. 1, 2025."

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said he will vote against the debt ceiling bill but praised Biden for doing the "best he could" in negotiating the deal.

Khanna, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said he couldn't "in good conscience vote for a process that ran roughshod over the Constitution and that’s going to leave a lot of vulnerable people without food assistance and leave a lot of student loan holders without relief.”

He pointed to the increase in defense spending, caps on spending for domestic programs and approval for the Mountain Valley Pipeline as areas of concern.

Still, Khanna said Biden deserves credit for having negotiated in a "hostage situation" and said he is confident the deal will pass.

"It could have been a lot worse," he said.

The House Democratic leadership reaffirmed support for the debt ceiling deal after what Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said was a “thoughtful, comprehensive, clear-eyed discussion” with their members and White House negotiators this morning.

“I made clear that I’m going to support the legislation that is on the floor today and that I support it without hesitation or reservation or trepidation,” he told reporters. “Not because it’s perfect, but in divided government, we, of course, cannot allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good.”

Although some progressive members, including Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., have said publicly they will not support the bill, Jeffries said that the conference is not “fractured at all” and that Democrats are “unified” behind avoiding a default. He added that he had a “good conversation” with Jayapal this morning.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will not be voting for the debt ceiling legislation, she told reporters this morning.

If McCarthy needs her vote, Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said, "he can come and get it, and he can come negotiate some things away."

"I think Republicans need to own this vote. This was their deal. This was their negotiations," Ocasio-Cortez said. "They’re the ones trying to come in and cut SNAP. They’re trying to come in and cut environmental protections. They're trying to ram through an oil pipeline through a community that does not want it."

Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Josh Hawley of Missouri said this morning that they'll oppose the debt ceiling deal.

Hawley said it wouldn't do "anything to address our massive structural trade deficit with multiple foreign nations, but particularly with China," while Graham said “it’s terrible” on defense.

"There’s some Republican leaders saying this deal fully funds defense. That’s just about as accurate as the border is secure," Graham said.

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois stressed that they plan to support the legislation even though they take issue with aspects of it, and they warned against holding up the bill.

“I just hope that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will be mindful of the fact that we need to do this for the good of our economy and the good of our country, but also for one another," Durbin said.

"Delaying this to get a headline is really not appropriate," he added.

Hawley said he does not see “much purpose” in holding up a vote, while Graham was elusive.

“We’ll see,” Graham replied. 

McCarthy responded on Fox News to the possibility that Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., could file a motion to oust him from the speakership.

"Governing is not easy, but I'm not fearful of anything," he said.

"I'm not going to give up on the American people, and this isn't the end," McCarthy said, referring to the budget and debt talks. "This doesn't solve all the problems. This is the first step."

Asked about GOP members planning to vote against the bill tonight, he said, "We'll get it done overwhelmingly."

Federal student loan borrowers face a reckoning as a result of the debt ceiling deal the House will vote on today.

If the agreement is signed into law, payments on federal student loans that were paused at the start of the pandemic will be reinstated at the end of August, with the bills coming due the next month.

That means 43 million borrowers, like Daniel Galván, 34, of Southern California, must start tightening their household budgets amid higher food costs and other unforeseen expenses.

Galván, a university administrator who still owes about $10,500 on his student loans, said that payments may have stopped over the last three years but that his financial obligations only grew.

“The pause was helpful,” he said yesterday. “My wife and I could buy a house in 2020. The money that would have gone to a loan payment helped me save up for that house and our initial expenses. Now we have 1-year-old twins, and they are not cheap.”

Read the full story here.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the floor that his colleagues should be prepared to move quickly on the debt ceiling bill.

"I cannot stress enough that we have no margin — no margin — for error," he said. "Either we proceed quickly and send this bipartisan agreement to the president's desk or the federal government will default for the first time ever."

Schumer said he will move to bring the bill to the floor as soon as possible when it reaches the Senate.

He added that he hopes the House "does its job" today.

Later on the floor, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., reiterated his support for the bill "without delay."

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said she will vote "no" on the debt deal, which the House is set to vote on tonight.

Jayapal, the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said many members of her caucus, which is composed of almost half the Democrats in the chamber, will join her in voting against the legislation, according to her early whip count.

"This is a right-wing, center-right deal," she said. "And if we want to have credibility with the progressive wing of our party, then we need to be able to show that we’re fighting for them."

House GOP leaders expect that not all Republicans will vote for the legislation, so the bill will need the support of some Democrats to pass.

McCarthy said this morning that he will put together a bipartisan commission to review the budget. He refused to share with reporters the whip count for tonight's vote.

"After today, I’m going to put a commission together to look at the entire budget," he said.

He added, "I want to make it a bipartisan commission that we can be very serious about looking long term to solve this problem once and for all.”

Asked whether it matters that he will not have the entire GOP conference behind him in tonight's vote, McCarthy said no.

“No, it matters it’s going to become law," he said.

McCarthy continued: "Everybody has a right to their own opinion. But on history, I’d want to be here with this bill today.”

The Problem Solvers Caucus today endorsed the debt ceiling legislation, which the House is set to take up tonight.

"There is still much more work to be done," a caucus co-chair, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., said in a release. "But this legislation is a very, very important first step."

The other co-chair, Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., echoed his Republican counterpart, saying in the release that the caucus was proud to endorse the bipartisan agreement and prevent an "economic collapse."

"In the end, this vote will happen from the middle out, and the Problem Solvers will play a key role in getting this legislation across the finish line and preventing a default," he said.

The Problem Solvers Caucus is composed evenly of Democrats and Republicans.

The bipartisan deal struck by Biden and McCarthy would extend the debt limit for two years, alongside modest federal spending cuts and a series of policy provisions.

The 99-page Fiscal Responsibility Act, which McCarthy says will get a vote in the Republican-led House today, will need to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate before the deadline of Monday set by the Treasury Department to act or risk default.

Read the full story here.

As criticism builds in Republican ranks over the debt ceiling deal struck by McCarthy and Biden, some hard-line conservatives have begun floating the idea of toppling McCarthy as House speaker.

On a House Freedom Caucus call Monday night, Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., floated using the motion to vacate, a rule that would allow any House member to force a vote to remove the speaker, two sources familiar with the call said. Buck, speaking toward the end of the call, referred to it as the “elephant in the room,” a source said.

After House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry, R-Pa., suggested it might be too early for such a drastic threat, Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., proposed using the threat to force McCarthy to allow members to amend the bill on the House floor, under an “open rule” that could stall the bill’s passage.

Read the full story here.

The House plans to vote on the debt ceiling deal around 8:30 p.m. ET.

Several Republicans and Democrats have said they will vote against the bill, which represents a compromise between Biden and McCarthy, but McCarthy has said he's "confident" it will pass.

Far-right members have been most critical of the deal, and conservative outside groups such as Club for Growth and FreedomWorks have encouraged members to oppose it.

If the bill passes, it will head to the Senate before Biden can sign it into law. The deadline to act on the debt ceiling is Monday.