House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) spent much of his weekend meeting with his GOP colleagues and engaging in drawn-out meetings late into Tuesday night — all to get the Republican leader to the magic number of 218 to pass his debt ceiling package.
At the beginning of the week, McCarthy faced at least eight foes within his own party who threatened to sink his “Limit, Save, Grow” legislation unless the speaker made some significant changes. Thanks to his slim majority in the House, McCarthy can only afford to lose four GOP votes — pushing the speaker into overdrive as he sought to nail down enough support before bringing the legislation to a vote.
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Despite vowing to move the legislation to the floor without any changes, McCarthy did make a number of concessions late Tuesday night in order to get some key GOP lawmakers on board. After meeting with several members on Tuesday, GOP leaders agreed to include some amendments that would preserve some ethanol tax credits as well as make changes to work requirements for Medicaid recipients.
Republican leaders are now projecting confidence they have enough votes to pass the bill, telling reporters they expect to pass the legislation sometime Wednesday afternoon.
The updated amendments seem to have won over some holdout votes, including those in the Iowa delegation who met with McCarthy in his office Tuesday evening. After that meeting, McCarthy agreed to make changes to one of his provisions that would repeal tax credits on clean fuels and include exceptions for those who entered into binding contracts before April 19.
Since then, the entire Iowa delegation — including Reps. Ashley Hinson, Zach Nunn, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, and Randy Feenstra — appear to be on board. Other Republicans who initially opposed the bill offered support for the package on Wednesday afternoon, including Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Nancy Mace (R-SC), who said she would vote in favor of the bill after meeting with McCarthy.
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However, McCarthy still faces hesitancy from lawmakers such as Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Victoria Spartz (R-IN), and Matt Rosendale (R-MT), as all remained undecided just hours ahead of the final vote.
McCarthy also met with holdouts Tim Burchett (R-TN) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on Wednesday afternoon, although it remains unclear whether Gaetz has changed his mind. Burchett emerged from the meeting, saying he’s still a firm no.
