Biden and McCarthy confident of vote’s passage

To avert a dangerous U.S. default, the House was heading toward approval of a debt ceiling and budget cuts package late Wednesday, as U.S. President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy assembled a bipartisan coalition of centrist Democrats and Republicans against fierce conservative blowback and progressive dissent.

The hard-fought deal pleased few, but lawmakers assessed it was better than the alternative, a devastating economic upheaval if Congress failed to act. Tensions rose when Republican support lagged on a procedural vote in the afternoon, but the package ultimately sailed ahead once Democrats unleashed their votes in a show of bipartisan support. Debate was underway, and a final House roll call was expected by evening. Biden expressed optimism that the budget cutting agreement he negotiated with McCarthy to lift the nation’s borrowing limit would pass the chamber and avoid an economically disastrous default on America’s debts.

“Things are going as planned,” he told reporters. The president departed Washington Wednesday for Colorado, where he is scheduled to deliver the commencement address Thursday at the U.S. Air Force Academy. “God willing by the time I land, Congress will have acted, the House will have acted, and we’ll be one step closer,” he said.

Biden sent top White House officials to the Capitol to shore up backing. McCarthy worked to sell skeptical fellow Republicans, even fending off challenges to his leadership, in the rush to avert a potentially disastrous U.S. default. “Everybody has a right to their own opinion, but on history, I’d want to be here with this bill today,” McCarthy, R-Calif., said.