Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says that the Republican Party is standing firm on its pledge t vote against raising the debt ceiling after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urged Congress to pass an increase.
McConnell on Dems big infrastructure bill: They won't let Republicans have any say in this monstrosity. But they want our help raising the credit card..Democrats want GOPers to help them raise the debt limit so they can keep spending historic sums of money with zero GOP input
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) August 9, 2021
Fox News reports:
“I thought my colleagues were thrilled to present another reckless taxing and spending spree to the American people,” McConnell, R-Ky., said. “Shouldn’t Democrats be proud to own all the debt it requires?”
McConnell has framed his call for all Republicans to vote against raising the debt ceiling as a protest of the $3.5 trillion spending plan Democrats plan to advance under budget reconciliation. Using that procedural gambit, Democrats can get around the Senate filibuster and cut out Republicans.
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“Democrats have all the existing tools they need to raise the debt limit on a partisan basis. If they want 50 lockstep Democratic votes to spend trillions and trillions more, they can find 50 Democratic votes to finance it,” McConnell added. “Our colleagues seem confident that Chairman Sanders’ vision is worth sticking our kids and grandkids with a massive bill.”
Despite McConnell’s threats, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said it’s all a bluff. “At the end of the day, Republicans understand that in the midst of COVID and climate change, they are not going to destroy the global economy,” Sanders said. “The United States government has always paid its bills and it will pay its bills.”
The $3.5 trillion in spending would add to the $1.9 trillion spending bill Democrats previously passed, the approximately $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill the Senate will likely pass and the several trillion in Covid relief the government approved in 2020.
