Kevin McCarthy basks in rare win after Republicans unite to pass debt ceiling plan – live

1 year ago 45

Good morning, US politics blog readers. A few months ago, Kevin McCarthy appeared to be in a terrible position. He had been elected speaker of the House of Representatives, but only after an unprecedented 15 rounds of voting by his fractious Republican caucus, and it wasn’t hard to see a future where those same lawmakers lost patience with and ousted the Californian. But last night, McCarthy notched a victory when the House GOP passed its proposal to increase the US debt limit while also slashing government spending, despite several Republicans initially saying they wouldn’t support the bill. Democrats oppose the measure, and there’s no way Joe Biden signs it into law, at least not without significant changes. But for McCarthy, the fact that he got it passed with Republican votes alone despite their narrow majority in the House indicates he may be a more clever – and potentially durable – speaker than he’d been given credit for just a little bit ago.

Here’s what else is happening today:

House Republicans are unveiling a proposal to address border security at 2:15 pm eastern time.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will brief reporters at 1:45 pm and likely bash the GOP debt ceiling bill, as the Biden administration has been doing for days.

West Virginia governor Jim Justice makes a “special announcement” at 5 pm that’s reportedly a campaign for Senate, potentially pitting the Republican against Democratic incumbent Joe Manchin in a contest that could decide which party controls the chamber.

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