GOP whip Tom Emmer reveals how Republicans overcame divisions to pass Kevin McCarthy’s debt ceiling increase

In this episode of Deep Dive, Playbook co-author Rachael Bade joins House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) and Deputy Chief Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.) just hours before the final passage of the debt ceiling bill they guided through the house.

This is the behind-the-scenes story from inside the Republican Whip’s office of how Kevin McCarthy’s leadership team convinced House Republicans to raise the debt ceiling for two years and agree his deal with President Joe Biden, which many on the right have decried as a grassroots betrayal. This is the story of how Emmer and Reschenthaler staged a divided and turbulent conference, dodging a balloon effort to oust McCarthy from the gavel and ultimately put the ball back in the Democrats’ court.