House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden have agreed to a tentative deal that will raise the debt ceiling, saving the country from default. However, this move could ultimately be the beginning of the end for McCarthy’s speakership and the start of his “death clock,” according to former GOP strategist Rick Wilson.
Following weeks of negotiations, Biden and McCarthy announced a tentative deal on Saturday night to raise the $31.5 trillion debt limit for two years while also cutting federal spending, just days before the United States is set to default on its commitments—which experts say would have devastating impacts to the global economy. The deal will extend the debt limit until January 2025, cap spending in the 2024 and 2025 budgets, repeal unused COVID-19 relief funds, cut Internal Revenue Service (IRS) funding and add work requirements for food aid programs, CNN reported.
“[It’s a] great night for Joe Biden, great night for the White House even though I think their messaging has been kind of tentative for the last couple of weeks,” Wilson said during an appearance on MSNBC on Saturday. “I think though we are now going to probably start the Kevin McCarthy death clock.”
The former GOP strategist added: “He has certainly got a very angry part of his caucus tonight who are probably burning up his phone. No matter how good it is for the country not to default, it’s not going to please the chaos caucus of the GOP.”
Taking to Twitter on Saturday night, Biden called the deal “good news for the American people, because it prevents what could have been a catastrophic default and would have led to an economic recession, retirement accounts devastated, and millions of jobs lost.”
However, Republicans voiced their frustrations towards the agreement, with Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado vowing to vote against the deal.
“Our base didn’t volunteer, door knock and fight so hard to get us the majority for this kind of compromise deal with Joe Biden,” the congresswoman tweeted.
Our base didn’t volunteer, door knock and fight so hard to get us the majority for this kind of compromise deal with Joe Biden.
Our voters deserve better than this. We work for them.
You can count me as a NO on this deal. We can do better.
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) May 28, 2023
Republican Ohio Senator J.D. Vance tweeted on Sunday, “The more I learn about this debt ceiling deal, the more I think it’s bad news. Deficit reduction isn’t even my most important issue. But we didn’t get permitting reform. We didn’t get border security. It’s not entirely clear we got anything.”
Representative Chip Roy of Texas also voiced frustration with McCarthy, responding to his tweet about the deal claiming it will cut spending, “I wish that were true.”
I wish that were true. $4 Trillion for keeping (effectively) bloated 2023 spending levels & maintenance of the Democrats’ wish list – crony IRA unreliable energy subsidies stay, IRS expansion 98% stays, work requirements weak and don’t apply to Medicaid… https://t.co/f3i4fTlWRs
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) May 28, 2023
Representative Dan Bishop of North Carolina also took to Twitter to call out McCarthy’s deal saying, “Kevin says we can fight again NEXT year to rescind another year of the IRS $80 billion … but he simultaneously prevented that “fight” by agreeing to suspend the debt ceiling for TWO years. So there will be 85,260 more IRS agents rather than 87,000 to eat you alive. Big win.”
Kevin says we can fight again NEXT year to rescind another year of the IRS $80 billion … but he simultaneously prevented that “fight” by agreeing to suspend the debt ceiling for TWO years.
So there will be 85,260 more IRS agents rather than 87,000 to eat you alive. Big win. https://t.co/CHRRIxFI4j
— Rep. Dan Bishop (@RepDanBishop) May 28, 2023
Political analyst Craig Agranoff told Newsweek on Sunday, “It’s possible that the McCarthy debt deal could mark the beginning of the end for his speakership popularity within the GOP. Recent favorable polls might take a hit as his colleagues appear to be turning against him for this deal.”
Meanwhile, McCarthy is coming off favorable polling after a tumultuous start to his speakership. Republicans barely captured a majority of U.S. House seats during the 2022 midterm elections, which Republicans were widely anticipated to dominate. Meanwhile, before taking the gavel, McCarthy faced a record 15 rounds of voting to sway far-right members of his party blocking his nomination.
After clocking in at just a 32-point approval rating in February polling from the Economist/YouGov, in its most recent poll, the Economist/YouGov found McCarthy’s approval rating had climbed by 14 points since its first poll, while his February disapproval rating of 37 percent had actually declined by one point—a sign more people were discovering who he was and approved of his performance.
Agranoff continued on Sunday, “It remains to be seen how this will impact McCarthy in the long term. The dissatisfaction expressed by his colleagues could have consequences for his overall standing within the party, potentially affecting his future prospects.”
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