Just before the House voted on the McCarthy-Biden debt ceiling bill, the Progressive caucus indicated that it would not support the bill, putting a little mystery into the process about whether it would pass.

Congressional Progressive Caucus Chairwoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said Wednesday that she would vote against the bill, and of course, she brought most of the caucus along with her.

“This was their deal,” Ocasio-Cortez said about the bill. “Holding the U.S. economy hostage is not acceptable, and pushing through these cuts are also not acceptable. … But Kevin McCarthy needs to put up his votes. And if he needs mine, he can come get it, and he can come negotiate some things away.”

Others disagreed and felt that the White House got most of what it wanted.

Too many concessions

“When we look at where we started and where we're at, the White House did a great job at clawing back a lot of what the Republicans want,” Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) told the Washington Examiner. “But at the end of the day, this is really up to Speaker McCarthy to deliver the majority of his caucus, and I'm not sure he's there.”

A significant number of conservative Republicans seemed to agree with Frost that McCarthy ultimately gave too many concessions to the White House, but but the bill did manage to pass 314-117 despite the defections.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said ahead of the vote that the Democrats would ensure that there would be no default on the debt.

As long as McCarthy could get at least 150 Republicans to support the bill, Jeffries said he would make sure it passed with some Democrat support.

Here's what happened

When the vote happened, Republicans had 149 votes to support the bill, and 165 Democrats voted to support it as well.

There were significant defections from the more strident members of both parties, but there was still plenty of support for the bill.

In the Senate, Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is pretty set against the bill because it increased military spending at less than the rate of inflation.

If a similar dynamic plays out there, though, there will be plenty of bipartisan support to pass the bill and avoid default.

For better or worse, avoiding default is important, and Republicans can hardly pretend they don't spend a lot of money when they get the chance.

Any real cuts will be kicked down the road once again, but at least the country won't be at risk of default because McCarthy or Biden decided to be stubborn.