EDITORIAL: Bipartisan compromise on debt ceiling a welcome solution

Jun. 2—It's troubling the U.S. government has to have a contentious political debate about paying its bills, but fortunately the fiscally responsible members of the House led the way to raise the debt ceiling.

Democrats supplied the winning votes Wednesday for Speaker Kevin McCarthy's Republican majority that was not only not unified behind their speaker, but outright combative and threatening to him and his tenure. The GOP House Freedom Caucus tried numerous tactics to derail the bill. The group doesn't formally list its members, but Pew Research defines 49 Republicans who are members or closely aligned with it and who make up 22% of the House GOP majority.

The Freedom Caucus rejected the deal McCarthy made with President Joe Biden. The caucus said it did not cut enough spending and provide for other positions for which they advocated, such as taking back tax credits and funding from the climate change legislation passed by Biden and Congress.

Some 71 Republicans and 46 Democrats voted against the package, leaving 149 Republicans and 165 Democrats to vote in favor making the final margin 314-117.

The Senate approved the plan Thursday evening on a bipartisan vote of 63-36.

We have long favored bipartisan solutions to critical issues like raising the debt ceiling, keeping in mind doing so only allows payment of bills the government already incurred.

Still, the debt ceiling deal will reduce the deficit by $1.5 trillion and has provisions that both sides don't like. Some older Americans on food stamp benefits will now have new work requirements. And it included a West Virginia gas pipeline that progressives opposed.

It was also good to see McCarthy and Biden were working with the moderate members of their caucuses creating a formidable majority. We urge the Senate to act in the same bipartisan way. There are plenty of other issues — immigration comes to mind — that could be solved if the moderates of both parties got together.

Minnesota members of Congress voted on a partial bipartisan basis with GOP representatives Tom Emmer and Pete Stauber joining Democrats Ilhan Omar, Betty McCollum and Dean Phillips voting in favor of the deal. GOP representatives Brad Finstad, 1st District, and Michelle Fischbach, 7th District, voted against the plan. Democrat Angie Craig could not vote due to injuring her ankle and doctors' orders not to fly.

Both Minnesota senators voted in favor.

It's disappointing to see Finstad and Fischbach voting with hard-line right-wing representatives who make up the Freedom Caucus that takes extreme positions and was willing to see the nation default on its obligation for the first time in history.

The 1st District is a purple district that includes a lot of moderate and independent voters of both parties. We're not sure why there seems to be more of an allegiance to the Freedom Caucus than the people of the 1st District.

But bipartisanship is to be commended and we hail those who voted for the commonsense, moderate, deficit-reducing debt ceiling bill that again gives the world confidence in the strength of the U.S. economy and the nation as an economic leader.