GOP Freedom Caucus Mulls Ousting Speaker McCarthy Over Debt Deal

Facts

• Members of the Republican House Freedom Caucus have been discussing the idea of ousting House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) over the debt ceiling bill he struck with Pres. Joe Biden over the weekend.¹
• Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) on Tuesday explicitly spoke out about potentially triggering a vote to vacate the speaker's chair, with Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) claiming that this option would be "unfair" to McCarthy.²
• This comes as a growing number of GOP lawmakers have criticized the debt agreement as it failed to include the $4.5T in spending cuts the House approved last month.³
• Over a dozen House Republicans have publicly indicated they will vote against the deal so far, with the GOP leadership projecting as many as 60 defections. The bill, which needs 218 votes to pass, was endorsed on Monday by 16 Republicans and the 98-member, center-left New Democratic Coalition.⁴
• As of 3 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, the House Rules Committee is meeting to decide whether to advance the new debt ceiling bill to a full floor vote on Wednesday. It must adopt a rule to set parameters for debate before a final vote takes place.⁵
• Last week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated that if the House and Senate don't raise the debt limit before June 5, the US could no longer keep within the current $31.4T debt limit — which was reached in January — and could default on its debt obligations.⁶

Sources: ¹NBC, ²POLITICO, ³Business Insider, ⁴Axios, ⁵CNN, and ⁶New York Post.

Narratives

• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Washington Post. While the US may yet avoid a default, both Democrats and Republicans have driven the country to the brink of a financial catastrophe, with untold repercussions yet to come, such as the effects of this mismanagement on the nation's reputation. This deal is a complete disaster that puts The US' embarrassing division front and center on the global stage.
• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Wall Street Journal. Though the new debt deal is far from the original House bill, Speaker McCarthy and the Biden admin. successfully banded together to advance GOP priorities in exchange for increasing the debt limit that had to be raised anyway. It would be nonsensical for Republicans to abandon their victories in this deal.

Predictions