McCarthy struggles to get House GOP in line as debt default looms closer

Alarm bells ought to be ringing on Wall Street and across the country.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s struggle to get his tiny House majority to pass a $4 trillion spending cuts bill designed to force President Joe Biden to climb down over a debt showdown fueled fresh fears Tuesday the US is heading for a default that could hurt millions of people.

The speaker met small groups of lawmakers, seeking to pressure members to fall in line in a quest for 218 votes to pass the bill and create new political heat on Biden. Party officials had hoped to hold the vote on Wednesday, but that timetable now looks in severe doubt. McCarthy on Tuesday night would only commit to a vote “this week.”

McCarthy’s camp insisted that the bill would not be changed, and he appears to be trying to jam recalcitrant members into falling into line when the vote is called. But the chaos and uncertainty over an issue of vital national importance raised new doubts about his political credibility and threatens to disrupt the so-far tempered reaction to the building crisis in financial markets.

Unless Congress fails to raise the federal borrowing limit this summer, the government will run out of money, the US will be unable to pay its obligations and the economy could tumble into a recession, causing job losses and possibly halting payment of some benefits. The long-term impact of America’s reputation as a safe financial haven could be eviscerated.

The dispute is the first crisis point of a new period of divided government that will show whether Washington is able to overcome the country’s festering political estrangement that threatens to inflict devastating self-harm on the economy and the financial security of countless citizens.

And it’s a fresh test of the authority and political dexterity of McCarthy who had to make huge concessions to his conference’s most…