The House of Representatives approved legislation on Wednesday to raise the debt limit until the end of 2024, or by $1.5 trillion.

Limit, Save, Grow Act was passed almost exclusively along party lines, 217 Republicans voting in favor. The legislation is unlikely to be passed by the Senate, as all 211 Democrats voting and four Republicans voted in opposition. The bill is an opening salvo for negotiations between Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Joe Biden who refuses to sign any legislation on debt ceiling that contains any other provisions.

The GOP’s four seat margin in the House forced the party to negotiate late at night with more than half a dozen holdouts. Most of them represent Midwestern States. The entire Iowa delegation was among those who opposed a provision in the 2022 inflation reduction act that eliminated ethanol subsidies and other incentives. Derrick Van Orden, a Wisconsin Representative, was able insert an amendment to keep some subsidies in place.

“I will always be with the farmers that feed America. I am glad that my amendment was included in the revised Limit, Save, Grow Act, which protects our corn farmers and biofuels industries. Van Orden, in a press release, said that this was a victory for Wisconsin and America.

In exchange for their support, other Republicans demanded that welfare recipients be required to work more hours. Matt Gaetz of Florida, New York Rep. George Santos, and Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett urged the GOP leadership to raise the number of hours that welfare recipients work per week from 20 to 30, Chip Roy from Texas and Scott Perry from Pennsylvania, members of the House Freedom Caucus, both supported the bill in the end after they pushed for an increase in work hours.

Santos Roy and Perry voted for the bill. Gaetz, Burchett and Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs voted against the bill.

In a letter sent to Texas House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arington on Tuesday, Philip Swagel, director of the Congressional Budget Office, estimated that Limit, Save, Grow would save $4.8 trillion in 10 years. Swagel said that the legislation would reduce discretionary spending of $3.2 trillion and mandatory expenditures by $700 billion. He wrote that it would also increase federal revenue by 400 billion dollars. Swagel provided the estimates prior to final amendments being introduced.

McCarthy is forced to negotiate because the legislation will not pass in the Senate. They discussed the debt limit at the White House in February, but haven’t met since to review the legislation. Ben LaBolt, the White House’s communications director, called the Limit, Save, Grow Act “draconian”.

LaBolt, in a press release, said that “House Republicans were selling out hardworking Americans to defend their main priority: restoring Trump’s tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest at a cost exceeding $3 trillion.”

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen took “extraordinary steps” on Jan. 19 to prevent a default. The U.S. will most likely reach the edge of the financial cliff in summer 2023.