McCarthy declined to discuss the whip count on Wednesday but downplayed signs of divisions within his own ranks.

“You know what matters is it’s going to become law. … Everybody has a right to their own opinion. But on history, I’d want to be here with this bill today,” McCarthy said.

But they’re not in the clear yet. Before the passage vote Wednesday evening, the chamber has to pass a rule in the afternoon that would set up debate on the debt legislation.

Typically, the majority party supplies the votes to pass the rule, even if members of the minority are going to ultimately vote for the bill. Republicans, however, are likely to need help from Democrats to advance the legislation, given significant GOP opposition and their slim margin.

But Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, said as of Wednesday morning Republicans hadn’t yet asked for help to pass the rule.

“When you’re in the majority, you have the responsibility to bring legislation to the floor and setting the agenda,” McGovern said. “So I’m going into this rule debate, expecting that they will put the votes on the board to pass it.”

When asked if the GOP would need Democratic help to pass the rule, Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) said “Republicans are the ones who are running this place, and Republicans will pass the bills, and that’s what we are doing.”

A large number of Democrats are expected to help pass the bill, which raises the debt ceiling through 2024, during a final vote expected around 8:30 p.m. But they might initially hold their members back to see what numbers Republicans are able to put up. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters that “it’s our expectation that House Republicans will keep their promise and deliver at least 150 votes.”

The vote on the rule is the latest potential snag that Republicans will have to overcome to get the debt bill across the finish line and shipped over the Senate ahead of the June 5 default deadline.

McCarthy and his allies defanged an attempt to kill the debt bill in the Rules Committee on Tuesday, after Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who kept Washington in suspense throughout the day, voted to advance the legislation out of the panel.

Massie, who wears a pin displaying the ballooning U.S. national debt, told reporters on Tuesday evening that will vote for both the rule and the bill on the floor Wednesday.

And McCarthy offered another carrot to potential holdouts on Wednesday morning, telling reporters that he would establish a “bipartisan commission” to look into the nation’s spending and debt that would be “looking long-term to solve this problem once and for all.”

The Californian faced fresh chatter Tuesday from a band of conservatives who floated trying to strip him of the speaker’s gavel over the bipartisan deal he cut with President Joe Biden. Such a move would be all but guaranteed to fail but would reopen wounds between the California Republican and his right flank that had mended since the contentious speaker’s race.

McCarthy made a swaggering pitch to his members during a closed-door hours-long conference meeting on Tuesday night, which several GOP lawmakers compared to a pep rally meant to drive up support for the agreement.

“If you think I failed you, I’m sorry,” McCarthy told Republicans. “But if you think I failed, I think you’re wrong.”

That pitch didn’t move his “no” votes into backing the bill. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said afterward that “the cheering doesn’t move me.” And Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), another “no” vote, added “I’m not voting to set the baseline spending at historic highs. I’m still a no.”

But notably, talk of removing McCarthy from the speakership had mostly muted after the closed-door powwow.

Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), who earlier had called for a vote to strip McCarthy of the gavel, left the meeting and refused to discuss the speaker’s future with reporters. “I’m not getting into that,” Roy, another of the bill’s most vocal opponents, said as he jumped into an elevator.

Other high-profile conservatives and members of the House Freedom Caucus also dismissed the possibility of trying to boot McCarthy from the speakership. Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas) told his conservative colleagues during the meeting to “cut it out” with their criticism, according to two people in the room.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a former Freedom Caucus chair and McCarthy ally, called talk of using the motion to vacate a “terrible idea.” And Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who is opposing the debt bill, said “we’re not talking about” trying to boot McCarthy. He also questioned if the immediate reaction to opposing a bill should be “‘uh oh you didn’t like something. It’s the MTV,’” referring to the technical name of an attempt to oust a speaker, motion to vacate.

McCarthy’s team is pushing for an overwhelming Republican vote today for the deal he negotiated, knowing that the more GOP yeas he can put on the board, the more leadership can isolate the small crop of conservatives contemplating mutiny — strengthening McCarthy’s hand as he heads into new governing challenges, not to mention the 2024 elections.

The hard-liners know it, too. Asked whether McCarthy had lost the confidence of his members, Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), another dismayed conservative, said “You’ll find out tomorrow when you see the vote totals.”

Nicholas Wu and Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.

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