Kevin McCarthy was never Washington’s bet to become House speaker
One morning amid the debt ceiling crisis, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy climbed onto his mountain bike and took a ride along the National Mall, marveling at the monuments.
The next day he arrived for negotiations at the U.S. Capitol carting in tortilla chips and queso for the beleaguered reporters waiting outside his office during the 24/7 talks.
McCarthy, with his laid-back California vibe, was never Washington’s bet to become House speaker, having almost missed seizing the gavel in a history-making spectacle at the start of this year.
But the 58-year-old is now leading House Republicans in the high-wire act of his career: Having negotiated with Democratic President Joe Biden over raising the nation’s debt limit, he now must deliver the votes to pass the spending cuts package into law.
The standoff is being watched the world over as the U.S. stares down a June 5 deadline when it could run short of cash to pay its bills, potentially hurling the American economy into chaos with an unprecedented default and taking the global economy into a crisis.
The Republican speaker commands only a slim majority in the House, and must reach across the aisle for Democrats to support the compromise. But neither side is expected to be happy with the deal announced late Saturday.
If McCarthy succeeds in pushing the budget-cutting deal with Biden through Congress, it will be an accomplishment like nothing he has done before. Or the Californian could lose it all, if the compromise he reached with the Democratic White House becomes so objectionable to the conservative flank that Republicans try to oust him from his job.
“One thing you’ve always learned about me: I don’t give up it,” McCarthy told reporters as he arrived at the Capitol Saturday morning.
“Doesn’t matter how many times it takes,” he went on, “you want to make sure you get an agreement worthy of the American public.”
Throughout the weeks of grueling negotiations McCarthy has remained relentlessly optimistic, breezing through the anxiety-filled hours, seemingly certain of the outcome.
