Motion to Vacate: Four Democrats Claim Kevin McCarthy Cut a Deal With Hakeem Jeffries to Get Debt Deal Done

Kevin McCarthy denies it. Hakeem Jeffries denies it. But everyone in Washington DC knows that McCarthy and Jeffries cut a secret deal to secure enough Democrat support to pass the debt ceiling deal Wednesday night.

In fact, it would behoove McCarthy to come clean about the secret concessions. Otherwise, he’d be admitting that his first major act as Speaker of the House was to pass a LEFTIST debt ceiling deal as more Democrats in the House voted in favor of it than Republicans.

Axios reported on four Democrats who claim there was a deal made between the two leaders of their parties in the House to secure the votes:

Spokespeople for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) disputed four Democratic sources who told Axios the two leaders had cut a deal for Democrats to help advance the debt ceiling bill to a final vote.

Why it matters: The 52 Democratic votes on a measure to bring the debt ceiling bill to the floor were necessary for the bill’s survival after 29 Republicans had voted against moving it forward Wednesday afternoon. The bill eventually was approved on a 314-117 vote.

What we’re hearing: Four Democratic lawmakers said they had been told of a deal, with two saying they believed it involved boosting federal funding for projects in Democrats’ districts — known as earmarks or “community project funding” — if Democrats voted to advance the bill.

What they’re saying: McCarthy had told reporters after the initial afternoon vote that he had not cut a deal to ensure the Democratic votes. A spokesperson later told Axios that there was “absolutely no deal” — and that suggestions to the contrary by Democratic lawmakers were “not accurate.”

The context: The GOP resistance in the procedural “rules” vote was an unusual breach of norms — typically the majority party alone is considered responsible for putting a bill on the floor on those votes.

This is clearly grounds to remove McCarthy as Speaker of the House. As noted in an article about the passage of the bill itself, Republicans got essentially nothing of value from the deal while the White House got to avoid their dreaded default. For McCarthy to need more Democrats than Republicans to vote to pass his deal is an unambiguous indicator that he either got rolled, is not really a Republican, or both.

Once the Biden-McCarthy deal is fully understood, it will be about as popular with Republican voters as Bud Light … purchased on sale at Target. pic.twitter.com/HcpvXhymAn

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) June 1, 2023

It’s time for someone to file a motion to vacate.

Congressman Matt Gaetz said if a majority of Republicans voted against the deal, then he’d file the motion. But just because a majority of Republicans voted in favor of the bill doesn’t mean McCarthy should get to keep his job.

Here’s Gaetz issuing the warning ahead of the vote:

Matt Gaetz means business:

"If a majority of Republicans are against a piece of legislation, and you use Democrats to pass it, that would immediately be a black letter violation of the deal we had with McCarthy, and it would likely trigger an immediate motion to vacate." pic.twitter.com/ePseEHsCFy

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) May 30, 2023

Kevin McCarthy didn’t just kick the can down the road like his predecessors. He handed Joe Biden and the Democrats a 20-month hall pass to turn the money-printing machines on full blast. #MotionToVacate