Biden's Debt Ceiling Strategy and Defense Budget Immunity

President Joe Biden successfully negotiated with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy over raising the nation's debt limit, despite initially icing out his Democratic allies. After the deal was announced, the White House went into overdrive to ensure that the frustration they'd sparked from within their party didn't metastasize into a full-blown revolt. The ice-then-court strategy worked, and 165 House Democrats voted for the Biden-McCarthy bill, more than the 149 House Republicans who supported the measure. The debt ceiling battle was the first main test of how Biden would operate as president in a divided government.