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The letter, delivered to the White House on Monday, also cites Biden’s past opposition to debt increases when he was in the minority. McConnell summed it up this way: “The President’s party had to take responsibility for a political program that you opposed. Your point of view then is our point of view now.
The President and Senate GOP leader jointly helped avert a tax disaster on several occasions when Biden was Vice President due to their long-standing relationship and mutual trust. Yet the two do not even speak to each other as Congress nears a calamitous debt ceiling battle. Monday’s missive and Biden’s debt ceiling speech later Monday are their first real communication on the most perilous deadline Congress will face this year.
The two leaders have bragged about their close working relationship for years. When Biden campaigned for the presidency, he did so as a leader who could reason with an often stubborn McConnell. And just a few months ago, McConnell shocked all of Washington when he approved the Biden infrastructure deal.
Now, at perhaps the most critical moment, the two don’t even try to negotiate. McConnell wrote to Biden that the reluctance of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to tackle the debt limit along party lines “is no excuse; it’s just a complaint. He also said he would not provide a “shortcut around procedural hurdles that they can overcome on their own.”
Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), A close ally of Biden, said McConnell’s position “must stay in the president’s throat.” It is something that has been done on a regular basis. There has been bipartisan cooperation to work together to raise the debt ceiling dozens and dozens of times. “
The president is expected to deliver a speech Monday morning on the importance of raising the debt ceiling after McConnell’s conference blocked a proposal to do so last week. The Kentucky Republican, meanwhile, says he doesn’t take it personally that he and Biden aren’t in touch.
“The reason we don’t talk a lot is because of what they’re trying to do. I am not offended by this. We have nothing to say to each other at the moment. He’s got his hands busy, with Manchin, with Sinema, ”McConnell said in a recent interview, referring to negotiations over Biden’s partisan social spending plan. “It doesn’t mean that we have a hostile relationship. It’s just that there is nothing to do with them right now.
As to whether Biden picked up the phone to call McConnell on the debt ceiling, he said, “No. And I’m not ambivalent about it.
As he focuses on saving his national spending and tax plans, Biden sided with Schumer, who says he just won’t raise the debt ceiling with all the votes. Democrats through the obscure budget reconciliation process, as McConnell demanded. Democrats say it’s taking too long and the GOP just shouldn’t filibuster.
But in the process, the price of Biden’s social spending program took a hard hit from the $ 3.5 trillion Democratic leaders wanted, somewhat hampering Republicans’ arguments over the excess of such a large bill.
As of yet, it’s impossible to predict who will blink in the deadlock on the debt limit. The country could be on the brink of disaster in the coming weeks as the mid-October deadline to raise the debt ceiling approaches.
“I don’t understand how much McConnell is trying to do now,” Coons added, referring to the GOP leader’s disinterest in allowing simple majority voting instead of the more complex budget reconciliation process. “I don’t know if our president will be able to move him.
As Biden and Democratic leaders focus on expansive and transformational government investments in health care, education and climate action, McConnell is making a risky bet that Democrats will fall back under pressure from Biden as it approaches the maturity of the debt. This will happen in just two weeks, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Raising the borrowing limit through reconciliation would take Congress at least a week, according to budget experts.
The President and Senate Minority Leader worked together to avoid default in 2010 and avoid the 2012 tax hole, when a series of tax cuts were due to expire. But unlike those past collisions, McConnell and his fellow Republicans have no political goals they wish to adopt as a condition of suspending or raising the debt ceiling. Instead, the GOP wants Biden and the Democrats to abandon their efforts to extend the safety net, raise taxes for the rich, and take climate action.
Biden reached out to Republicans beyond McConnell; he called Senator Susan Collins last week to congratulate the Mainer on his successful proposal to help victims of directed energy attacks. But she said they hadn’t even discussed the debt ceiling.
“Republicans would vote to suspend the debt ceiling until the end of next year if the president abandons plans for that $ 3.5 trillion [bill]”Collins said in an interview.
The Biden administration, for its part, deployed Yellen to call McConnell on September 15 to once again stress the economic costs of a possible default. Administration officials familiar with the call described him as respectful but admitted that he did not appear to influence the minority leader.
There is growing skepticism within the White House that McConnell and Senate Republicans will change their stance. Despite this, the White House is trying to increase its public pressure on them with Monday’s speech.
And Democrats say Biden will at least have to try to move McConnell at some point, no matter how still the Kentuckian seems. Through his campaign invocations of McConnell and other GOP allies, Biden has built a brand as someone who can at least talk to Republicans.
“If anyone could get McConnell to do the right thing, it would be Biden,” said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.). “You might say, ‘Hey, what about this? You all vote against, but don’t filibuster. ‘ “
That’s exactly what Schumer tried earlier last week when he proposed that Democrats all vote to raise the debt ceiling by a majority vote. But that required the unanimous consent of all senators. And McConnell wouldn’t give it away.
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