Less than 24 hours after the White House inked a deal with House Republicans to raise the debt ceiling and avoid a default, Republicans are already conceding they won’t be united on it.
Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD), one of the deal’s negotiators and a member of some moderate Republican caucuses, conceded to CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday that some Republicans will not vote for the bill. However, he said, the bill was still a complete and total win for Republicans.
Let’s be honest, Bob Good will not vote for this thing,” Johnson said on State of the Union, referring to his GOP colleague from Virginia. “It doesn’t matter if Mother Teresa came back from the dead and called him, he’s not voting for it. He was never going to — this is going to pass.”
If it does, it will apparently be without complete Republican support. Reps. Good, Chip Roy (R-TX), and Ralph Norman (R-SC) were among a vocal group of House representatives who disavowed the deal on Saturday night. Norman said he would not vote “to bankrupt our country,” calling the deal “insanity,” while Good argued that “no one claiming to be a conservative could justify a YES vote.”
Johnson said that he hoped some Democrats would join Republicans in passing the bill—even after he argued that “there were no wins for Democrats” in the deal.
“It doesn’t matter if Mother Teresa came back from the dead and called him, he’s not voting for it.”
— Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD)
“There is nothing, after the passage of this bill, that will be more liberal or more progressive than it is today,” Johnson said. “It’s a remarkable conservative accomplishment.”
The deal reached by the White House and Republicans includes a two-year debt ceiling increase; keeping non-defense discretionary spending flat through 2024, with a one-percent increase in 2025; clawbacks in COVID and IRS funds; and work requirements for single, able-bodied people up to age 54 who receive food stamps.
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