Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said this week to Democrats he would allow an emergency debt limit extension into the month of December, pushing away from a dangerous standoff by awarding a possible path to avoid a debt default for America.
A procedural vote on a bill that would stop the debt limit for two years was quickly delayed, and the Senate recessed so Senators could discuss the next steps.
“This will destroy Democrats’ excuses about the timeline they created and give Democrats more than enough time to support standalone debt limiting legislation using reconciliation,” McConnell stated.
It also will allow GOP members to avoid the blame they would have received for preventing a vote on the much longer extension.
Earlier Wednesday, President Biden enlisted top leaders to push for quickly suspending America’s debt limit, saying the nearing October 18 deadlines led to the risk of a historic debt default that would be akin to a “meteor” that would crush the financial markets.
At a White House event, Biden shamed Republicans for threatening to filibuster any suspension of America’s $28.4 trillion debt cap on the federal government’s borrowing ability. He also took from the credibility of corporate leaders — a group that is usually aligned with the Republicans on regulatory issues — to drive home his point as the leaders of JP Morgan Chase, Citi, and Nasdaq gathered to virtually say the debt limit should be lifted.
“It is not right and it is dangerous,” Biden said of the resistance by Senate GOP. “So we should stop this mess and vote for this now.”
Corporate leaders echoed Joe Biden’s points about requiring the end to the stalemate as soon as possible, though they sidestepped the tensions by doing so. Each one said the debt limit was an avoidable crisis.
“We just cannot wait until the last minute to resolve this,” stated the CEO of Citi, Jane Fraser. “We are playing with fire and our nation has suffered over the past few years. The economic and human cost of the pandemic has been terrible, and we do not need a catastrophe made by us.”
Author: Blake Ambrose