South Dakota’s lone House member tells fellow Republicans to “pay attention" to conservative wins in the deal to prevent a default on the nation’s debt.
Federal lawmakers have until June 5 to pass legislation before the US runs out of money to pay its bills.
Republican Representative Dusty Johnson calls the budget deal brokered between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden “impressive.”
While some Republicans in Congress are critical of the package, Johnson said that’s not how negotiations work.
“We have raised the debt ceiling many times. We have never secured budget cuts as a part of that deal before," Johnson said. "This is the largest spending cut in the history of our country, $2.1 trillion, according to the CBO. It’s the largest ever claw back, or rescission of funds from the executive branch, before, in our country’s history.”
Speaker McCarthy and President Biden agreed on a deal to lift the debt ceiling over the weekend.
The deal raises the debt ceiling for nearly two years while placing a 1 percent cap on spending. The deal also reforms some work requirements for food stamps.
Johnson praised McCarthy’s negotiation ability.
“I think McCarthy’s stock is trading about as high as it ever has,” Johnson said. “The reality is he’s delivered a deal that cuts $2 trillion in spending out of our budget over the course of the next few years. That’s pretty remarkable. There’ll be a lot of members of the Freedom Caucus, quite a number of them, I think that shows how conservative it is.”
US House lawmakers are expected to vote on the bill Wednesday evening.
