The Lead with Jake Tapper: Rep. Nancy Mace, (R-SC), Is Interviewed About Debt Ceiling Bill, Kevin McCarthy
Interview
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Well, the rule is a procedural motion and what we saw just down the floor. It didn't really matter if you voted yes or no, the votes were there and there were negotiations made with Democrats for their vote for yes to get it through. They were promised earmarks that they will now receive for their yes vote on the rule. So it didn't really matter from my perspective whether it was yes or no, but I'll be voting no tonight because my votes with the American people.
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This is not a win for the American people. Republicans got nothing for this. In fact, the debt ceiling bill doesn't even have an actual limit on the debt ceiling. We are signing into -- we'll be signing into law, making it plain that the COVID level, the highest historic level of spending we've had in this country around $6 trillion, we're signing that into law to say that is baseline spending going forward. And the work requirements that you mentioned come to find out it actually expands government welfare not shrinking, the IRS stuff that's $1.4 billion cut, that's nothing, that's page 53 line 11. I read this bill, I read it multiple times over, it's not the spending cut bill that we were promised or that is being told that's the truth right now.
And I'm here to set the record straight that this is not a win for the American people, it's going to add $4 trillion of debt over the next two years. This is going to be an enormous problem. I think it'll make inflation worse and long term. We're going to have a lot of problems trying to rein back this out of control spending that we're going to that'll pass out of the house tonight.
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I wasn't there so I can't verify the truthfulness of that statement. I would argue I was a reluctant yes the first time because I felt we need to have a more conservative bill come out of the House because when you are negotiating, you have to give up concessions, you have to build consensus. But really this is nothing here. Progressives got every single one of their projects funded, it takes one person, the director of OMB, to waive authority to be able to spend money to advance Biden's progressive agenda.
We didn't get hardly anything out of this and at least of all spending cuts and we're setting into law record high levels of spending started during the COVID emergency and even President Biden said a few weeks ago COVID is over. There's no reason to be spending at levels this high and put that into law.
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Well I'm not a member of the Freedom Caucus so I can't speak for them or what their strategy might be on a caucus of one. But I do believe discussion about vacating the chair is premature at this juncture. I don't believe that it'll have any legs at this moment.
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Thank you, Jake.
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