Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) said Republicans “totally got rolled” in the debt ceiling agreement between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
Mace told Semafor’s Steve Clemons on Tuesday that Biden negotiated a “pretty damn good deal” for his side, saying the Democrats “laughed at” Republicans on the floor during the debt ceiling vote last week.
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“Republicans totally got rolled,” Mace said, adding that while she does believe in consensus and making compromises, the GOP “gave away the kitchen sink and then some.”
“We gave away all the leverage we had, which was the debt ceiling over the next two years, past the election. There’s no more leverage here,” Mace said.
She cited a CNN poll conducted by SSRS that 45% of Democrats, a majority of independents, and most Republicans wanted to see some spending cuts in the debt ceiling bill, saying the public will be sorely disappointed.
The president signed the debt ceiling bill into law on June 3, which suspends the nation’s $31.4 trillion borrowing limit until January 2025. If the spending caps outlined in the bill are retained for six years, it could reduce the deficit by $2.1 trillion, according to a preliminary assessment from the Congressional Budget Office. However, the budget caps are only required for the first two years.
On the other side, Mace claimed on Tuesday that $17.3 trillion in spending will go toward adding debt.
When “you see these measures that, once they come out of the House, they might look responsible, but because we didn’t agree to them in writing, they’re not worth the paper they’re printed on when they go to the Senate — people will see what is just all an illusion,” Mace said.
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Mace opposed the debt ceiling agreement and voted “no,” joining 70 other Republicans and 46 Democrats who also voted against the deal on May 31. She said Washington was “broken” and that Republicans were “outsmarted” by Biden.
She had also signaled opposition toward the Limit, Save, Grow Act, Republicans’ initial offering in the debt limit negotiations, before later voting “yes” after meeting with McCarthy.
