“The Public Debt Ceiling Crisis: A Fateful Test for Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy”

On January 7, 2023, Republican Kevin McCarthy took over the hammer of the House presidency, becoming the 55th Speaker of the House in American history.

However, his way to reach the presidency of the Council was not easy at all, as it required 15 rounds of voting, and 4 days of sharp interactions, which reflected a fierce struggle in the ranks of the Republican Party due to the fierce opposition of conservative deputies. These divisions have returned to the fore in the negotiations to raise the public debt ceiling, as Congress will not easily endorse the agreement that McCarthy reached with the White House.

The public debt crisis and the “presidency” seat

There is no doubt that the public debt crisis and the resulting negotiations constituted the first challenge for McCarthy to prove his abilities as Speaker of the House, and his skill in aligning the Republican ranks behind an agreement that faced sharp criticism from conservatives and liberals alike. But the concessions McCarthy made to his opponents from the Republican Party during his struggle to reach the presidency of the Council, returned to disturb his sleep in the course of the agreement to raise the public debt ceiling, and threaten his seat, which he worked so hard to win.

He did not win the necessary votes to win this seat easily, as he was forced to resort to many concessions requested by the opposition deputies, which appeared prominently in the open, and for the first time in the vote of the Rules Committee, which approved the difficulty of the agreement, on Tuesday evening, and sent it to the House of Representatives.

the first exam

McCarthy gave his conservatives three seats on this powerful House committee, which must approve bills before they are formally sent to the House.

For this reason, the vote of the committee, which unanimously agreed with 7 of its members against 6 of them opposed the agreement, was very important to McCarthy. His allies warned him of the great risk of appointing opponents to the committee that enacts the rules of work in the parliament, and decides which bill receives a vote, in addition to determining the duration of the debate, the number of votes needed for its approval, and the amendments that representatives can put forward through it. This concession is considered one of the most important “prizes” won by the opponents, as it gives them great influence in all files, without exception.

And this is what happened, as two out of the three appointed by McCarthy voted against the agreement. Which prompted the Speaker of the House to hold a closed meeting with the Republicans, where he told them: “If you think that I have failed you. I’m sorry. But if you think I failed, you are wrong.” Confident words, which contain a veiled challenge to the opponents of the Council Speaker, and perhaps they caused another challenge to emerge before him, and also resulted from the concessions he made.

The second exam

Among the other concessions made by McCarthy, an amendment to the laws of the Council, allowing any deputy to put forward a project to “remove him from office.”

Some of the opponents of the agreement began to hint at the implementation of this amendment. Representative Shep Roy, one of the Republicans appointed by McCarthy to the Rules Committee, said that “in the event that the agreement is not dropped, we must meet and reconsider the issue of the presidency of the Council.” A veiled threat, met with a clear threat from one of the most prominent former opponents of the Speaker, Matt Gates, who said: “If the majority of Republicans are against a particular project, and democratic votes are resorted to for its approval, then this is a clear violation of the agreement we reached with McCarthy, and generates an immediate proposal.” to remove him from office.”

And in the event that matters reach the point of putting forward a similar project in the House, it will be difficult to obtain the majority of votes needed to “oust” McCarthy. This was indicated by one of his allies, Republican Representative Jim Jordan, who said: “I am not worried about the presidency of the Council, McCarthy is doing a good job.” Republican negotiator Patrick McHenry also jumped to his defense, pointing to the slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives, versus a Democratic majority in the Senate. He said, “We have a small majority in (representatives), and what we got is the best conservative result that can be obtained.” McHenry, who headed the Republican efforts to negotiate with the White House on the text of the agreement, continued: “I am proud of the agreement we reached. Of course I wanted more concessions, but what we got was much better than expected.

Senate obstructions

With the June 5 default date approaching, according to the US Treasury Department, all eyes are on the Senate, which has not yet begun considering the “99-page” agreement awaiting approval by the House of Representatives.

The agreement faces a bumpy road in the council, as its rules require the approval of all 100 members to overcome procedural obstacles, and vote immediately on its text without adding amendments.

Until now, the leader of the Democrats in the House, Chuck Schumer, has not been able to persuade his colleagues to abandon their reservations and not put forward amendments. Which, if it happens, may lead to a failure to vote on the agreement by the specified date.

Ironically, the most significant obstacle to agreement in the Senate is from the Democratic side. A White House concession in favor of moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin led to a small revolt by a number of Democrats who objected to the administration’s approval of the Mountain Valley gas pipeline.

Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, who worked hard to block the aforementioned line in the past, vowed to block it again by introducing an amendment to the text of the agreement. He said, “I insist on introducing the amendment… I was able to obstruct work in this line 4 or 5 times. I never imagined that it would be included in a law to raise the public debt ceiling.”

Despite all the reservations and obstacles, the weightings agree on one result. The debt ceiling will eventually be raised, against all objections. But the most important question is; Will this happen before June 5th, or will the US go into a default panic, if only for a few hours?