As Congress considers the debt ceiling agreement this week, one member of the Alabama GOP congressional delegation said he hasn’t decided on whether or not to support it.
President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy released their negotiated agreement over the weekend, which raises the debt ceiling and puts a cap on future spending.
U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl (R-Mobile) discussed the positives and negatives of the legislation on FM 106.5’s “Midday Mobile.”
“So, I read it a couple times and I’ve still got lots of questions about it, I’m still straddling the fence,” Carl said. “I’ve got a lot of people that say yes, a lot of people that say no, and I could give you the pros and cons and I’ll tell you what I think.”
The congressman believes McCarthy deserves at least some praise for getting Biden to the negotiating table in the first place.
“The positive side you’ve got to remember, we were told it would be a clean bill, no exceptions, period, take it or leave it,” Carl said. “And through McCarthy and through our negotiations, we’ve got to this point, which is a lot of the table here. So let’s give McCarthy and his group credit for what they did. We put it together, we all had a voice in … so we’re at a point now where we never would have been there, period.
“So let’s be proud of the victory, for a very short period of time, but let’s be proud of it.”
He also said one of the best parts of the deal will help curb the overreach coming out of the Biden administration.
“It tells the president that the president cannot do anything from an executive order that costs money without coming up with that money himself,” Carl said. “So, if he wants to put something in an executive order, he’s got to cut something out in order to be able to do that.”
Carl admitted he’s a little concerned about what this deal means for defense spending.
“I’ve got to get more clarity on it,” he said. “I’ve got to understand on the spending on the military, on the defense for the next two years. I think it gets a 1% increase. I don’t think that’s enough at all, but I’ll get with (Chairman) Mike Rogers … I’ll get him to explain it to me what that actually means to the House Armed Services Committee, how that affects us from a defense standpoint, and get those answers.”
Carl said he plans to continue to think through the issue because he wants the make the best decision for his district and the country.
“As you can tell I’m all over the board on this,” he said. “I’m trying to figure out: A, what’s best for the country. B, what’s best for my district. And of course, I’m going to be last, what’s best for Jerry.
“So whatever choice I make, it’s going to be one of those 50-50 votes: 50% of the people are going to be mad at me and 50% are going to love me.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
