House Freedom Caucus member: 'We failed' to block debt ceiling deal

The deal to raise the debt ceiling that was negotiated by United States House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) and President Joe Biden last week ultimately made it through the House and Senate before landing on Biden's desk for his signature on Saturday despite opposition from members of both political parties.

The right-wing House Freedom Caucus was perhaps the most vocal coalition against the legislation. And on Sunday, Congressman Ken Buck (R-Colorado) conceded to CNN's Dana Bash that he and his confederates fell short of their goal of stopping its passage.

"You call the deal atrocious, and yet it passed by almost two hundred votes, including a majority of Republicans. President Biden, I should say, signed the law yesterday. What does this say about the power of your colleagues in the Freedom Caucus at this moment?" Bash asked Buck, who responded by calling her the wrong name.

READ MORE: Why House Freedom Caucus were the biggest 'losers' of all in the debt ceiling battle

"Well, first Ann, if I may, I wanted to correct something that Jamie Raskin said earlier, my colleague from Maryland. There is no MAGA group in the house that wants to make sure that we default. That, that, that, that's just a, a, a talking point that is unfair. There are a lot of people in the House and a lot of representatives in the House Freedom Caucus that wanna make sure that we don't spend more money than we have, and that we don't spend ourselves into a really bad situation," Buck said.

"But I think the House Freedom Caucus, with a five-vote majority in the House still retains a lot of influence in the House. The key is that we use that influence in a way that brings conservative results, and I think that's what we tried to do with this case. And we failed, honestly," Buck continued. "The speaker got Democrats to vote for this bill. Because the bill is — and in fact, more Democrats voted for this bill than Republicans — this bill is a Democrat bill. It is a bill that not only avoided a default, but also locked in the progressive gains that the President made in the last two years."

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