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- On Tuesday night, Biden opened the door to exploding part of the filibuster to avoid default.
- He said Democrats were considering it and it was “a real possibility.”
- Manchin and Sinema opposed changing the 60 vote threshold for filibuster, making it a long shot.
President Joe Biden opened the door on Tuesday night to make a one-time filibuster hole to push through a debt limit increase, saying it was “a real possibility” among Democrats as they sort out options in the face of Republican opposition to prevent a potentially devastating default within two weeks.
Earlier today, Biden said “there’s not much time left to do it through reconciliation,” referring to a legislative maneuver Democrats are using to approve their social spending plan relying solely on government spending. Democratic votes and bypassing fierce GOP opposition.
The Republicans, led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, are blocking efforts to renew the United States’ ability to pay its bills. They argue Democrats must unilaterally pass an increase in the debt limit as part of the reconciliation, betting it will expose them to politically uncomfortable votes and provide fodder for mid-year campaign announcements. next.
Democrats argue that both sides have a responsibility to repay the debt they have accumulated in recent years, especially under the Trump administration. “If Republicans could just get out of the way, we could do it,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday.
Democrats in the Senate balk at reconciliation, a perilous maneuver to be undertaken just weeks away from a critical deadline. Many Democratic senators are starting to lean in favor of a single filibuster exception if it meant avoiding default.
“You could create a one-time exception to save the economy from disaster,” Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland told Insider Tuesday.
Yet some Democrats, including Biden, have long been reluctant to invoke the so-called “nuclear option” to change Senate filibuster rules in an effort to approve priorities for immigration reform, gun control and voting rights with a simple majority vote. Most bills must first pass a 60-vote threshold before they become law, an uphill battle for Democrats in a 50-50 Senate.
Senate Republicans were successful in preventing Biden from implementing most of his plans by using the obstruction’s 60-vote threshold. Despite the GOP blockade, some centrist Democrats, such as Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, insist that filibuster serves as a mechanism to foster compromise with Republicans. Senate Democrats would need the couple’s votes to carve out a temporary exception and unilaterally pass an increase in the debt limit, making the maneuver long.
It was not immediately clear whether Manchin would be swayed by the threat of a global economic catastrophe to abandon his attachment to filibuster. “Forget about the obstruction” he told reporters on Monday.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that if Congress does not act by October 18, the United States may not pay off all of its debts. If the United States defaults, seniors could face delays in receiving Social Security checks, and federal unemployment benefits as well as government health insurance programs for low-income people could be reduced.
Kimberly Leonard contributed reporting.
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