Tag: McCarthy

Schumer praises Biden for making deal with McCarthy, tells Senate to prepare for weekend vote

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer praised President Joe Biden for coming to a debt ceiling agreement with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and told senators to prepare for a vote later this week.

Schumer made the statement in a “dear colleagues” letter to his fellow Democrats on Sunday. The caucus will meet over the phone to discuss the specifics of the budget deal later Sunday and early this week, he said in the letter.

“I salute President Biden for protecting the American economy and delivering for American families by taking the threat of default off the table,” Schumer wrote. “I look forward to seeing the language of the agreement and reviewing it carefully.”

“These have been a difficult few weeks given how intransigent and extreme the MAGA Republicans are, but nonetheless we must avoid default and its grave consequences for the American people,” he added.

DEBT CEILING AGREEMENT IN PRINCIPLE REACHED BETWEEN DEMOCRATS, REPUBLICANS

McCarthy also noted a warning from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that the U.S. would not be able to pay its debts beyond June 5 if Congress does not act.

McCarthy has vowed that lawmakers in the House will get 72 hours to review the text of the agreement before voting on it, pushing back the Senate process to later this week.

SPEAKER MCCARTHY DEFENDS BUDGET COMPROMISE AS CONSERVATIVES BALK: ‘A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION’

Biden’s White House team negotiated with Republican leadership throughout the weekend before announcing an “agreement in principle” on Sunday. The speaker defended that agreement in an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.”

MCCARTHY CITES ‘PROGRESS’ IN US DEBT-CEILING TALKS WITH WHITE HOUSE

“Maybe it doesn’t do everything for everyone, but this is a step in the right direction that no one thought that we would be able to today,” McCarthy told host Shannon Bream.

“I’ll debate this bill with anybody,” he continued. “Is it everything I wanted? No, because we don’t control all of it. But it is the biggest rescission in history. It is the biggest cut Congress has ever voted for in that process.”

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Several Republicans remain opposed to the legislation, most of them within the House Freedom Caucus. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, blasted the bill for not cutting the vast majority of Biden’s push to expand the IRS, among other things.

Crenshaw: Drama over McCarthy vote 'seemed very, very pointless'

Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, softened his tone Sunday toward the Republican holdouts who temporarily blocked Kevin McCarthy’s speakership bid, saying that while he doesn’t actually believe his Republican colleagues are “terrorists,” he thinks the way they went about stalling the House vote was “pointless.”

“There was no reason for us to keep voting, keep voting, keep allowing these speeches that just degraded and diminished and insulted Kevin McCarthy,” Crenshaw said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We didn’t have to keep doing that. We could have just adjourned for the whole week and just kept negotiating.”

“That’s where the heartburn is and that’s what I want people to know,” he said. “This deal was easy. That wasn’t the hard part, right? There’s not as much disagreement as everyone thinks on how that rules package went by and what some of the new changes needed to be. The only thing I’ll disagree with this group on is, is that it could have been done earlier.”

“So that’s what justifies the animosity that occurred all week, and it seemed very, very pointless,” he added.

TED CRUZ CHASTISES DAN CRENSHAW FOR ‘OVERHEATED RHETORIC’ IN HOUSE SPEAKER FIGHT: ‘SETTLE DOWN’

Crenshaw came under fire from fellow Republicans on day two of the lengthy speaker vote last week after he blasted the 21 holdouts, accusing them of looking for a “scalp” and likening them to “terrorists.” 

“That’s why we’re saying it, because we cannot let the terrorists win,” Crenshaw told Fox News Radio. 

His use of the word “terrorists” drew criticism from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Fox News host Tucker Carlson and others, but Crenshaw defended the term as “a figure of speech.” 

“Unclutch your pearls. It’s a figure of speech. You can’t insult, slander and hold everyone hostage with no way out – and not expect me to punch back,” he tweeted Wednesday. “Grow thicker skin.” 

Crenshaw echoed the same sentiment on Sunday but offered an apology to any of the holdouts who may have taken him literally.

REPUBLICANS’ BATTLE OVER HOUSE SPEAKERSHIP HAS BEEN ‘COMING TO A HEAD FOR A LONG TIME’ REP. SCALISE

“Look, things get heated and things get said. Obviously, the people who took offense by that, it’s pretty obvious that it’s meant as a turn of phrase,” he said.

“I was a little taken aback by the sensitivity of it,” he continued. “To the extent that I have colleagues that were offended by it, I sincerely apologize to them. I don’t want them to think I actually believe they’re terrorists.”

McCarthy won the speakership position on Saturday in a record 15th round of voting, receiving 216 votes, a bare majority that was lower than the normal 218 votes needed because six of his remaining GOP detractors relented to vote “present.” 

The GOP rules package McCarthy sent to members included the central concession that would allow any five Republican representatives to force a vote of no confidence in the speaker. Previous House rules, put in place by previous Speaker Nancy Pelosi, required a member of the House leadership from the majority party to initiate a vote to remove the current speaker.

Fox News’ Kelly Laco contributed to this report.

Here are the six remaining holdouts preventing Kevin McCarthy from becoming House speaker

There are six remaining Republican members-elect preventing Rep.-elect Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., from becoming the next speaker of the House of Representatives following the 13th round of voting Friday.

Friday’s ballots have been the most positive for McCarthy so far in the drawn-out process of electing a new speaker, as 14 of the 20 initial members-elect opting not to support him have flipped their votes and quieted concerns he wouldn’t be able to reach the threshold required to be elected.

Those members still choosing not to vote for McCarthy include Rep.-elect Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., Rep.-elect Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., Rep.-elect Eli Crane, R-Ariz., Rep.-elect Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., Rep.-elect Bob Good, R-Va., and Rep.-elect Matt Rosendale, R-Mont.

‘SIMPLY PERSONAL’: MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE DISPELS HOPE ‘NEVER KEVIN’ HOLDOUTS WILL ACCEPT MCCARTHY CONCESSIONS

Rep.-elect Andy Harris, R-Md., was the sole holdout to flip to McCarthy in the 13th round of voting after 13 holdouts and one “present” voting member flipped their votes in the 12th round.

McCarthy received a total of 214 votes in the 13th ballot to Rep.-elect Hakeem Jeffries’, D-N.Y., 212 votes and Rep.-elect Jim Jordan’s, R-Ohio, six votes. Two Republicans were not present to cast their votes due to medical and family reasons, but are expected to return by the end of the day to cast their votes for McCarthy as the rounds of voting are likely to continue.

With those additional votes, McCarthy is expected to have 216 total votes, meaning just two of the six remaining holdouts would need to flip their support in order to reach the required threshold to be elected speaker.