Geoff: Welcome to the newshour.
The U.S. House is set to vote on
a debt ceiling deal tonight,
after Republicans got some help
from Democrats to pass a crucial
hurdle.
The vote follows weeks of heated
negotiations and criticism from
the right and the left.
Lisa Desjardins has been
tracking it all on capitol hill
and joins us now.
There has been lots of action on
the house floor already today.
Ring us up to speed on what
happened.
Lisa: As many people know, the
delivery process can be
complicated in some instances,
and that is the situation here
now.
This was a critical moment in
the lifespan of this debt will.
It had to get pastor hurdle
allowing it to even come up for
debate on the house floor.
Usually what happens is the
party in charge decides which
bills come to the floor, and
they all vote to make that
happen.
But as we have been talking
about, there were two dozen plus
Republicans who opposed this
bill and wanted to block it.
So what happened?
A slew of Democrats in the
middle of the vote changed the
vote, tsitsipas of them, in
order to help this debt deal
continue to move forward.
It was a bit of quick drama, but
the Democrat said we needed to
do this, we felt like this is
too important for our country.
It shows that what happened
today, number one, this is a
very high wire act that both
parties are trying to conduct
here.
And number two, it is in fact
bipartisan, that this bill
moving through, it's survival
depends on both parties.
Geoff: So we are a short time
away from the big test, which is
the houseboat on the bill
itself.
Are the votes there, Lisa?
Lisa: I been checking in all day
with folks who were undecided
yesterday and this morning.
I will say in just the last
hour, one Republican and two
Democrats have said they are now
voting yes for this bill.
That seems to be the way the
momentum has gone over the past
day.
It hasn't been easy for either
side, and we do think this vote
will matter for Kevin Mccarthy's
leadership.
We will be counting how many
Republicans vote yes.
He needs a clear geordie of his
conference, or else his job
could be at stake as well.
Geoff: Remind us of the major
issues, the concerns that
Republicans and Democrats have
about how this bill will affect
everyday Americans.
Lisa: That's right.
On thing about this is first,
the reason so many people are
undecided is because they are
thinking about those mistakes.
I want to first lay the sound of
two of the leaders of both sides
showing how bipartisan this was.
Neither side is exactly ecstatic
about this, but both are saying
that they have to move forward.
Here is what we heard on the
floor today.
>> It is not a perfect bill, but
it does represent a compromise
between the administration and
congress that's necessary in
divided government.
Nobody got everything they
wanted, but the end result is a
truly historic bill.
>> There is no perfect
negotation when you are the
victims of extortion.
Nobody likes to pay a ransom
note, and that's exactly what
tonight's vote is.
It's our payment on the ransom
of the American people.
Lisa: What is interesting is
those are two leaders who are
both in support of this hill.
To your question, what is at
stake here, why are there still
undecided votes?
At stake in the bill, first and
foremost, two years of federal
spending.
That is trillions of dollars
that will affect host every
aspect of American life.
Food benefits, food stamps, the
snap benefit for hundreds of
thousands of people, the way the
benefit is changing will mean
some thousands of people lose a
benefit and thousands of others
will receive it.
There's also major energy
projects that are at stake in
this bill, because permitting
would intentionally move more
quickly.
On the other hand, there are
those on the left to say there's
a problem because the extent of
environmental reviews or those
huge projects would be much more
shallow and they are worried
about the environment impact.
Take all that together and you
have misgivings from some
Democrats, worried about the
environment and worried about
those food stamps programs.
I want to talk about one other
Democrat from Connecticut, a
former national schoolteacher of
the year.
She had a powerful moment today
when she said, I am thinking
about my constituents who might
lose their food stamp benefits.
I'm thinking especially of older
women, she says older women of
color don't have any lobbyists,
they only have me.
So a very emotional vote for
some of these members.
Geoff: So as far as tracking
what is happening in the house,
what is the state of play in the
upper chamber?
Lisa: It does feel like the
votes are there as well.
The question as always is the
timing.
The senate does not move
quickly, but they don't have a
lot of time.
Over the next couple of days we
will see if the vote will move
quickly, perhaps as soon as
Friday, or it may take several
days past that.
We could get close to the
deadline.
We watch that very closely.
Geoff: Lisa, thanks so much.
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