House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his top allies have reversed course and changed -- and agreed to make two major changes overnight in a bid to pass the package Wednesday in their standoff with the White House.
It's not clear if even those changes will yield enough support to pass the bill, as House Speaker McCarthy can only lose four votes in the narrowly divided House. Yet, after days of proclaiming and that no changes would be made, leadership caved realizing that without some of these tweaks, the bill didn't have a chance of passing.
Republicans agreed to allow to be implemented on a quicker timetable -- a move intended to win over GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida and others who had warned they would vote against the bill without such changes.
Also, top Republicans agreed to remove a repeal of certain tax breaks for biofuels like ethanol � an issue that prompted furious opposition from the four Iowa Republicans and some other midwestern lawmakers.
Those changes could be enough to win the bill's passage.
The measure is mainly aimed at boosting McCarthy's negotiating stance with Democrats, as both the White House has issued a veto threat for the legislation and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday described the bill as dead on arrival. Still, if McCarthy can unite his conference and force a bill through the chamber, it would be a symbolic win for GOP leadership, as the country approaches its default deadline
After recessing the House Rules Committee before midnight Tuesday night, leaders scrambled behind the scenes to find a way to convince two different groups of holdouts to back their legislation. When rules came back in the early Wednesday morning hours, they had series of changes that they hope will get them the votes they need.
The House could now vote as soon as Wednesday to try to pass the legislation, though GOP leaders could also delay the vote beyond Wednesday if they need additional time to wrangle members.
Republicans will huddle at 9 a.m. ET for their conference meeting, which will offer some of the earliest signs if the changes were enough to win over enough Republican members to advance the bill.
The package raises the nation's $31.4 trillion debt limit by an additional $1.5 trillion. But the plan also states that if the new debt limit is not breached by March 31, 2024, then Congress must again increase the borrowing authority by that date, proposing to reignite a major fiscal battle in the middle of a presidential election year.
In their "Limit, Save, Grow Act," House Republicans propose sizable cuts to domestic programs and intend to spare the Pentagon's budget, returning funding for federal agencies to 2022 levels while aiming to limit the growth in spending to 1% per year. McCarthy has said the bill would save $4.5 trillion.
As part of the 320-page bill, the GOP also proposes to block President Joe Biden's plan to grant student loan forgiveness, repeal green energy tax credits and kill new Internal Revenue Service funding enacted as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. The measure would also impose new proposals to give Congress more power to halt regulations from the executive branch. The plan would also expedite new oil drilling projects while rescinding funding enacted to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Wrangling the diverse conference to coalesce around the bill is the biggest test yet for McCarthy, who just hit 100 days in the role after a tumultuous journey to capture the gavel.
But clearing the hurdle of gaining the support from his own conference only gets him to the starting line in negotiations with the White House, who has already made it clear they want the debt ceiling raised without conditions.
McCarthy has not yet suffered a defeat on the floor, but Republican leadership has been strategic to only put up bills that can clear the chamber. Compounding the issues for McCarthy is that he only has until Friday before the House leaves for a week long recess, putting default closer if they are not able to come to a resolution on this bill.
This story has been updated to include additional developments.
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