McCarthy lauds debt US ceiling deal, House conservatives divided

WASHINGTON, June 4 (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Sunday lauded the debt ceiling deal he negotiated with Democratic President Joe Biden, but a prominent House conservative warned that McCarthy has "credibility issues" that may prompt some Republicans to seek his ouster as the top Republican in Congress.

Representative Ken Buck, a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, said the deal had failed to deliver the deeper spending cuts that McCarthy had promised his party when he ran for speaker in January.

The debt ceiling deal keeps fiscal 2024 spending flat at this year's levels, allowing a 1% increase for fiscal 2025. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the deal will cut deficits by about $1.5 trillion over a decade from its current-law baseline forecast.

House Republicans in late April passed a bill demanding $4.8 trillion deficit reduction over 10 years in exchange for a debt ceiling hike, drawing Biden into negotiations that led to the deal's Senate approval on Thursday.

Asked whether the Freedom Caucus would seek a vote to oust McCarthy in ...
[Short citation of 8% of the original article]