The White House and Senate Democrats have calculated that Speaker Kevin McCarthy won’t have enough votes to raise the national borrowing limit and will end up caving to their demands to avoid a first-ever debt default – with no strings attached or any conditions whatsoever.
House Republicans are trying to prove them wrong.
Behind the scenes, McCarthy is beginning to chart out a new strategy to ensure the House GOP can muster 218 votes to raise the national debt ceiling and tie that to an array of cuts to federal spending, as the standoff with the White House shows no signs of easing.
In the speaker’s office last week, leaders of the so-called “five families” of the House GOP – representing the various ideological wings of the conference – met for the first time to discuss the range of possibilities and to kick around ideas about raising the debt limit, according to multiple attendees. McCarthy didn’t attend the session but enlisted a close confidant, Louisiana Rep. Garret Graves, to lead the discussions, with top committee chairmen and other members of leadership also participating. Talks are expected to pick up when the House returns from a two-week recess after the Presidents Day holiday.
The goal, according to multiple Republicans, is to begin to develop a consensus about a proposal that can pass the House with GOP votes and strengthen their conference’s negotiating position as Washington stares into a looming debt default this summer. The belief among Republicans is such a plan would force the White House and Senate Democrats to back off their insistence that they will only accept a “clean” debt ceiling increase without any spending cuts attached.
The move gives a window into McCarthy’s management of his razor-thin majority, allowing his most conservative members to try to find consensus with more moderate lawmakers –…
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