‘No’ votes: These House Republicans say they will vote against debt ceiling bill
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) speaks to Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) following the final votes of the week on Friday, September 30, 2022.
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House GOP leaders are racing to secure support for the debt ceiling deal that Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) struck with President Biden as they face growing criticism from Republicans.
The bill needs a simple majority to clear the House and head to the Senate, and many Democrats are expected to support the measure, helping it to get across the finish line in a slim GOP majority.
But Republican leaders face political pressure to have as many Republican votes as possible in favor of the legislation — preferably having more Republicans vote for the bill than Democrats. Anything less than a majority of the 222 House Republicans voting for the bill would be politically devastating for GOP leadership.
Some Republicans are already announcing their intent to oppose the bill ahead of Wednesday’s high-profile vote, ranging from hard-line conservative members of the House Freedom Caucus — such as Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) — to a first-term member who was a top recruit for Republican leadership in the 2022 election cycle, Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas).
House Republicans must first pass the rule governing debate over the measure, which is expected at 3:30 p.m., before moving on to a final vote around 8:30 p.m. It requires a simple majority to pass in the House.
Here are the House Republicans who say they will vote against the bill.
Republican ‘no’ votes
Bishop labeled the deal a “disaster.”
And he took his criticism a step further on Tuesday, publicly expressing support for ousting McCarthy over the debt limit deal he struck with Biden.
“I think it’s got to be done,” Bishop told reporters.
Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.)
Hunt, a freshman congressman, said the concessions McCarthy made to Biden in negotiations over the debt limit “fall short of my expectations and the expectations of my friends and neighbors in Congressional District 38.”
He said the debt limit legislation does not rescind all of the funding the Internal Revenue Service received in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act, and that it does not include “a vast portion of H.R. 1,” the GOP conference’s sweeping energy bill.
“For these reasons and more, I will be voting NO on the Biden-McCarthy proposal to raise our nation’s Debt Ceiling. I urge my Republican colleagues to do the same,” he wrote on Twitter.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.)
“I’m voting NO on the debt ceiling debacle because playing the DC game isn’t worth selling out our kids and grandkids,” Mace wrote.
She argued the agreement “normalizes high spending started during the pandemic” and said the spending cuts included in the bill are a “wash” because of spending increases in other areas.
She took issue with a provision that will expedite completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline — a major priority of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) — which Mace said was not germane to the bill.
Roy, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, railed against the debt limit legislation during a press conference on Tuesday, dubbing it a “bad bill.”
“I want to be very clear: not one Republican should vote for this deal. Not one,” Roy said. “If you’re out there watching this, every one of my colleagues, I’m gonna be very clear: not one Republican should vote for this deal. It is a bad deal.”
Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.)
Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas)
Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.)
“The Speaker himself has said on numerous occasions, the greatest threat to America is our debt, and now is the time to act,” Perry, the chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus said at a press conference Tuesday. “We had the time to act and this deal fails, fails completely.”
He referenced the debt limit bill House Republicans passed last month, which outlined more aggressive spending cuts than the Biden-McCarthy deal.
“We’re here to let you and the American people know that Speaker McCarthy had a mandate from the American people, negotiated with the powerful negotiation position of a unified Republican Party — not only just in the House, but in the House and the Senate — to hold the line for the bill that we passed. This deal that we’ve heard about totally fails to deliver on all of it,” Perry said.
Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas)
Potential Republican ‘no’ votes
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.)
Burchett’s office told The Hill that the congressman “is currently leaning no,” but he “is still reading through the full bill text before making a final decision.”
“He is glad Speaker McCarthy is keeping his promise to allow members adequate time to read the text of the bill before voting on it so they can make informed decisions, unlike the previous Congress,” his office added.
Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.)
Higgins, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, has not declared himself a “no” on the debt limit bill, but Sunday, he wrote on Twitter, “When career politicians from both parties are messaging a win, the American people are losing.”
Updated on May 31 at 3:20 p.m.
