• The debt bill must clear the Rules Committee, where Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) will seemingly decide its fate in a meeting scheduled for 3 p.m.
• The GOP controls the panel 9-4, but two hard-liners who were elevated to the committee in January as part of a GOP deal to elect McCarthy speaker, Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Ralph Norman (R-SC), appear ready to vote against the legislation on Tuesday, disappointed that it didn’t go further in its spending cuts.
• That leaves Massie, a libertarian dubbed “Mr. No” for how often he votes against legislation, to cast the deciding vote. Massie himself was added to the Rules Committee as a conservative check on McCarthy’s power but has not given the speaker the same headaches as members of the House Freedom Caucus.

Tagged: Capitol Hill