The only middle-ground on this shit was some kind of Sequestration gambit, where we put a gun to the head of the Pentagon and HHS for six years while pretending to pull the trigger.
McCarthy getting rid of the most performative aspects of this deal suggests that he’s either extremely confident in getting White House concessions (very probable) or he’s committed to doing a default and seeing how things shake out (less probable, but we’ve seen Republicans try dumber shit).
This feels like the “Crash the Economy and Blame the Democrats” gambit from 2012. As I am fully committed to the Death To America program, I guess I’m fine with this.