House Republicans are out with a second version of their debt ceiling, designed to win over GOP holdouts after repeatedly urging them not to make changes to the legislation.
Changes made at a Rules Committee hearing that lasted into the wee hours of Wednesday morning were designed to win over some of the eight-plus holdouts whose votes are needed to get the Limit Save Grow Act through the House.
The House has now passed an initial vote on the rules for the vast package and is now expected to proceed with a final vote on Wednesday afternoon.
The tweaked version includes changes to ethanol provisions and work requirements — but in a last-minute dig at the former speaker, $200 in maintenance at San Francisco’s Presidio Park — Nancy Pelosi’s district — is now also being scrapped.
Last year’s inflation reduction law [IRA] including $200 million for overdue park maintenance. NPS Director Charles Sams revealed to Congress that senior Interior Department officials instructed him to make sure Presidio got all that funding.
Sams said Interior officials told him the “congress’s intent” was to go against park service standards and send all the money to the Presidio.
“We went back and looked at the IRA and there was no congressional intent in that. That was intended for the National Park Service as a whole. So all $200 million goes to one person’s district and that happens to be the former Speaker of the House?’ Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., told DailyMail.com in an interview after the first vote on the rules for the Limit Save Grow Act.
“I think they’re really high points, because when people in America see things like this, they just… I don’t know if you call it corrupt, but it’s wrong.”
In fact, Pelosi’s district got nearly a quarter of the $1.5 billion Congress allocated to the park service in 2023.
“I call it Nancy’s Park Service,” Tiffany said. “We have beautiful national parks all over the country, many of which need maintenance, and she gets a quarter of it.”
The Presidio is a posh waterfront national park at the end of the Golden Gate Bridge. It is home to a golf course, luxury hotels, shops and museums.
The tweaked version of the Limit Save Grow Act includes changes to ethanol and provisions on work requirements designed to convince holdouts — but in a last-minute dig at the former speaker, the bill now also deducts $200 from maintenance at the Presidio Park in San Francisco – Nancy Pelosi’s neighborhood
View of the Golden Gate Bridge from the Coastal Path, Presidio Park, San Francisco, California
The Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and Visitor Center is housed in a historic building in The Presidio of San Francisco, on the waterfront near the Golden Gate Bridge. The Presidio is a former military post in San Francisco
Now the GOP leadership seems confident that the debt ceiling bill will be “today,” according to Whip Tom Emmer.
A vote on the rule allowing a final vote is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. Another vote on the bill is expected later this afternoon. Democratic Whip Katherine Clark sent out a message on Wednesday saying that “all members are expected to attend” to give Republicans no leeway in counting their votes. They have to get to 218 to pass the measure.
There are still at least two Republican opponents – Rep. Nancy Mace confirmed to reporters that she still “tends” and Rep. Tim Burchett said he would vote against the bill regardless.
“I just can’t get past $32 trillion” in debt, he said. On Tuesday, he said he had stood up to meet with Republican leaders to discuss the bill. Today he has another scheduled meeting with GOP leaders where he said he wants to hear “real debt reduction.”
Now the GOP leadership seems confident that the debt ceiling bill will be “today,” according to Whip Tom Emmer
McCarthy and his leadership team negotiated changes with GOP holdouts on ethanol provisions and benefits
Representative George Santos, RN.Y., would not tell reporters where he stands on Wednesday after saying Tuesday he did not vote. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., also said he was still looking at the bill changes but complained that they happened in the middle of the night.
Both had complaints about job requirements for benefits like SNAP and TANF not getting going fast enough — under the changes, those job requirements would be in 2024 instead of 2025.
With the amendments to the bill, stragglers from corn-producing farmland districts are now expected to vote in favor of the bill. That includes four from the Iowa delegation, two from Minnesota, one from Wisconsin and one from Missouri.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise said the original version of the bill eliminated ethanol subsidies beyond what was included in the Democratic-enacted Inflation Reduction Act of last Congress.
“Some were there before. So there was no point in getting rid of them all, just the ones made in the IRA.”
Republicans are eager to present a united front and get this bill passed in hopes that it would force President Biden to the negotiating table.
“We want to get this done as quickly as possible. But more importantly, we want President Biden to finally get involved in this process,” Scalise said.
McCarthy and Biden have not met to discuss the debt ceiling in more than two months. McCarthy insists his conference will not vote for a clean $31.4 trillion debt ceiling increase, Biden still insists he will not negotiate the debt ceiling.
While leaders have had to work overtime maneuvering their conference to hopefully pass a party-line bill with only a narrow majority, the question now arises of how the conference can get on board with a negotiated bill that will surely be less conservative with input from Senate Democrats.
Right-wing South Carolinian Ralph Norman told reporters that if the House passed the Limit Save Grow Act, it would put the ball back in the Senate court to get something done on the debt limit. “It’s up to the senate to pass it and if not let them take the pressure to shut it down.”