Debt ceiling vote: takeaways and how the Illinois congressional delegation voted

WASHINGTON — As the House was voting on the debt ceiling bill on Wednesday night, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., was hanging back, one of the last to vote.

When Schakowsky was sure there were enough votes to pass the measure and prevent the first default in U.S. history, she voted no. But if her vote was needed, she said she would have been a yes.

The House advanced the measure — to suspend the debt limit until Jan. 2, 2025 — to the Senate on a 314-117 roll call.

The debt ceiling bill passed the GOP-controlled House chamber only because of Democratic votes. Here are some takeaways:

House vote by the numbers: Republicans supplied 149 yes votes and 71 no votes. Democrats delivered 165 votes and 46 no votes.

Far right, far left in rare unity: Members of the far right and far left provided the no votes and complained the loudest about the bipartisan compromise forged by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

With House GOP and Democratic leaders checking in closely with their members to see where they stood, those who voted no did so with a likely luxury — they knew the 218 threshold to pass would be met.

Still, Schakowsky waited until the end to vote no out of an abundance of caution — no matter how much she loathed the deal, she didn’t want to trigger a default.

Senate passes debt ceiling bill, sends to Biden to sign: On Thursday night, on a 63-36 vote, the Senate sent the debt ceiling bill to Biden to sign — with three votes to spare. The measure needed a supermajority, or 60 votes, to pass. Similar to the progressive no votes in the House, some far left senators joined Republicans in opposing the measure: Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn.; Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass; Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; and Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Independent. Illinois Democrats Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth voted yes.

How Illinois House members voted: Illinois has 17 House members — three Republicans and 14 Democrats.

Six of them voted no, three from each party: Republican Reps. Mike Bost, Mary Miller and Darin LaHood. They all represent the Trumpiest parts of the state.

The Democratic no votes were from Schakowsky and Reps. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia and Delia Ramirez. They represent some of the most progressive political turf in the state.

Progressives divided: Of the other 11 Democratic yes votes from Illinois — three were from members in districts with heavy concentrations of progressive constituents: Reps. Jonathan Jackson, Robin Kelly and Danny Davis.

The other Democratic yes votes came from Mike Quigley, Sean Casten, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Brad Schneider, Bill Foster, Nikki Budzinski, Lauren Underwood and Eric Sorensen.

Facing reality: The reality — which is hard for some members to acknowledge — is that divided government — when Democrats control the White House and Senate and Republicans hold the House — in the case of lifting the debt ceiling so the U.S. can pay its bills — forces compromise. Some Republicans — and former President Donald Trump entertained the dangerous notion that a default could — maybe should — happen.

“Sometimes,” Kelly said in an interview, “you have to compromise.”

Illinois members explain: Schakowsky said in a statement, “if my vote was needed to prevent a catastrophic debt default, I certainly would have voted for the agreement. I just simply could not condone Kevin McCarthy and the Republicans holding the American people hostage.”

Garcia said in a statement, “We should not reward Republicans for threatening a catastrophic default as leverage to impose their extreme agenda.”

Davis is the ranking member on the Ways and Means subcommittee that deals with TANF — temporary assistance for needy families — food stamps and other forms of public assistance. Republicans cut these programs and toughened work requirements, but Davis got some wins — the deal exempted from work requirements, among others, young adults coming out of foster care.

“The bill is not everything I would have wanted, but it does allow us to pay our debts,” Davis said in his floor speech. On Thursday, Davis got a call from the White House thanking him for a tough vote.

Casten, who specializes in environmental issues, was among the climate activists who found the Biden team’s agreement for an electrical transmission study — “a grave disappointment,” yet he voted yes.

Miller, one of Trump’s strongest supporters in Illinois was against the compromise — because, she said in a statement, “this deal does not contain anywhere near the CUTS and policy changes we need in order to stop Joe Biden’s war on the American people.”

LaHood said in a statement, “I cannot support the agreement in its current form.”

But in this case, there was never going to be another “form.” This is the deal. Compromise is not a dirty word. It’s the consequence of divided government.