The U.S. House of Representatives inched the country away from financial default by passing a temporary suspension of the nation’s debt ceiling.
Members approved a compromise in the debt ceiling standoff negotiated by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in a bipartisan vote of 314 to 117 on May 31. Forty-six Democrats and 71 Republicans voted against the bill.
Watch Full House Vote on Debt Ceiling
The Financial Responsibility Act suspends the debt ceiling until Jan. 1, 2025, cuts non-defense discretionary spending slightly in 2024, and limits discretionary spending growth to 1 percent in 2025.
The agreement also contains permitting reforms for oil and gas drilling, changes to work requirements for some social welfare programs, and clawbacks of $20 billion in IRS funding and $30 billion in unspent COVID-19 relief funds.
In the absence of congressional action to allow additional borrowing, the United States would lack the ready cash to pay all of its bills on June 5, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
Biden, in a statement after the vote, applauded the House’s passage and urged the Senate to pass the bill as quickly as possible.
An Imperfect Solution
Leaders on both sides portrayed the agreement as a victory, while many rank-and-file members saw it as an imperfect solution.
“I believe this is an agreement in principle that’s worthy of the American people,” McCarthy told reporters on May 29. “That’s historic reductions in spending, consequential reforms that will lift people out of poverty into the workforce and rein in government overreach.”
He referred to the agreement as the largest single spending reduction in the nation’s history.
“I’m going to support the legislation that is on the floor today, and I have supported it without hesitation, reservation, or trepidation,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told reporters ahead of the May 31 vote. “Not because it’s perfect. But in a divided government, we cannot allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good.”
That theme was repeated by members of both parties throughout the day.
