House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) mustered just enough votes Wednesday to pass the House GOP’s proposal to raise the nation’s borrowing limit after several last-minute changes to appease Republican holdouts. 

The GOP proposal, which passed 217-215, is likely dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate and President Biden has vowed to veto it on the off chance it does make it to his desk.

“The sad part here is, now the Democrats need to do their job,” McCarthy told reporters after the vote, noting that his conference had passed its bill “way ahead of the debt limit.” 

“The president can no longer ignore by not negotiating,” the speaker added. “Senator [Chuck] Schumer, if he thinks he’s got a plan, put it on the floor – see if you can pass it.”

“We lifted the debt limit, we’ve sent it to the Senate, we’ve done our job, the only body in here that’s done theirs,” McCarthy went on.

The White House fired back Wednesday evening, with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reiterating “this bill has no chance of becoming law.”

“Congressional Republicans must act immediately and without conditions to avoid default and ensure that the full faith and credit of the United States is not put at risk. That is their job,” Jean-Pierre added. “Economists have warned that default could spark a dangerous financial crisis, lead to a recession costing millions of Americans their jobs, endanger hard-working Americans’ retirement savings, and increase long-term federal borrowing costs, adding to deficits and debt.  We are not a deadbeat nation … We pay our bills. Congressional Republicans must do that again now and act to avoid default.”

The 320-page-long “Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023” was nearly scuttled by Corn Belt Republicans who signaled opposition to the proposal’s repeal of some tax breaks for biofuels, such as ethanol, implemented through Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.

Iowa’s four Republican congressional members vowed to vote against the debt ceiling measure unless the tax credit repeals were stripped from the bill, which House GOP leadership agreed to do earlier Wednesday. 

“I think all of us are very pleased that the speaker looked at things, and was willing to engage in conversation and to make the acknowledgment that they were being addressed retroactively,” Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) told reporters before the vote. 

Republican leaders also agreed to fast-track the proposed implementation of work requirements for Medicaid recipients, a concession made in an effort to win the support of Gaetz – who earlier this year played a key role in holding up McCarthy’s speakership election – and other far-right members of the GOP caucus. 

In the end, Gaetz was still one of four Republicans to vote against the proposal, joining Ken Buck (R-Colo.), Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) and Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.). 

“As our nation is careening into a $32 trillion debt, Congress shouldn’t be making final changes at 2 a.m. – the morning of the vote – to legislation raising the debt limit $1.5 trillion,” the Florida Republican said in a statement.

“While I applaud the work of my Republican colleagues to demand better energy policy, regulatory reform, welfare-to-work requirements and less spending, a troubling fact remains. This plan will increase America’s debt by $16 trillion over the next ten years. Gaslighting nearly $50 trillion in debt to America is something my conscious cannot abide at this time,” he added.

The changes were adopted despite earlier repeated insistence by McCarthy and his leadership team that there would be no changes to the bill.

McCarthy’s proposal to raise the debt ceiling would allow the federal government to borrow another $1.5 trillion or until March 31, 2024 – whichever milestone is reached first – in exchange for discretionary spending cuts for non-defense programs. 

The legislation would limit the growth of future expenditures to 1% per year for the next decade.

“These spending limits are not draconian; they’re responsible,” McCarthy said in remarks on the House floor last week after announcing the proposal. 

The bill would also nullify Biden’s plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student loan debt for certain borrowers and roll back portions of Democrats’ $739 billion government spending package implemented last year. 

While McCarthy was able to unite his conference at the 11th hour Wednesday – a major symbolic victory – Biden, 80, made it clear Wednesday that he has no intention of sitting down with the California Republican to hash out a deal to raise the nation’s borrowing limit that he would sign. 

“They haven’t figured out the debt limit yet,” the president said near the end of a joint press conference with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol at the White House.

“I’m happy to meet with McCarthy, but not on whether or not the debt limit gets extended,” Biden said.

“That’s not negotiable. I notice they quote Reagan and — they quote Reagan all the time, and they quote Trump, both of which said, and I’m paraphrasing, it would be an absolute crime not to extend the debt limit.”

The CBO projects that the Treasury Department will exhaust its emergency measures to prevent a debt default sometime between July and September if Congress doesn’t raise the country’s $31.4 trillion credit limit before then.