‘We’ll Get it Done Without Them’: McCarthy Defiant Amid Threats from Far-Right House Members Over Debt Deal

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) took questions from Fox’s Harris Faulkner on the debt ceiling Wednesday and claimed he will get the deal done “overwhelmingly,” even without the naysayers in Congress.

Faulkner expressed concern about members on both sides of the aisle getting “really incendiary with the rhetoric.”

“Right now some 35 House Republicans and counting — it ticks up every five minutes now — say they are a hard ‘no’ to you on this bill,” Faulkner said. “The conservative Freedom Caucus promising a reckoning over the deal…How do you get this done without those 35 votes?”

“Oh, we’ll get it done overwhelmingly,” McCarthy answered. “People have different opinions. Before this, I had 17 Republicans who had never voted for a debt ceiling, period. To govern is not easy, but I don’t want to be on the wrong side of history. Every single one of the members who vote no will miss the opportunity to vote for the largest cut in American history.”

Faulkner asked again, “You’ll get it done without them? You will get enough Democrats to come on board?”

“We’ll get it done without them, that’s not a problem.” McCarthy reiterated. “Look, the president came to an agreement. I think from that point is that every time we’ve ever had two agreements made like that, both sides come together. What happens is, as one on the other side comes on, some people will fall off because they think it’s a free vote that way,” he said.

“This isn’t a thousand-page bill that spends more money; it’s a 99-page bill that only cuts. So, the difference is, too, you’ve got 72 hours to read it. When I came in as speaker, I wanted to open this House. This is the people’s House. I want them to know what we’re voting on. We’re not voting to spend more money; we’re voting to cut money. The majority of the bill is about what we’re rescinding. Fifteen pages of that just rescinding.”

Earlier in the interview, McCarthy claimed,”Today we’re going to make history. This is going to be the largest cut ever voted on through American history in Congress: $2.1 trillion. It doesn’t solve our problems, but it’s the first step in the right direction.”

The House is expected to vote on the debt ceiling legislation Wednesday. If the bill passes, it would move on to the Senate, where both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have endorsed it, and plan to send the bill to the president’s desk for his signature.

Watch the video above via Fox News.