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“I mean, I’m not going to be a complete asshole about this. But I’m going to make them take tough votes, ”Graham said in an interview.
As Graham and most other Senate Republicans prepare to obstruct a debt ceiling suspension on Wednesday, they are staunchly opposed to helping Democrats raise the country’s borrowing power ceiling, but are divided over the opportunity to push their fight as far as possible. The heat has not yet fully risen in the room, although it is arriving. And Democrats are privately discussing potentially changing obstruction rules to avoid a default.
Democrats may have to cancel next week’s vacation to face the Biden administration’s Oct. 18 deadline for debt disaster, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowing to stay in. session until a bill is on the president’s desk.
Schumer refused to give in to GOP demands that his party use the painstaking reconciliation process, which Democrats are also deploying to pass their massive social spending bill without Republican votes. Top Democrats argue that a vote on debt through this special budget maneuver is impractical and gives individual Republicans too many opportunities to derail the process. Behind closed doors, however, GOP senators debate what they could endure to avoid default.
Some Republicans say that if Schumer takes Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell into account, the GOP should win and make reconciliation as easy as possible for the president’s party. Others refuse to give an inch. And still others in the conference wonder if at some point their colleagues could break ranks and let Schumer easily organize a vote up or down on increasing the country’s credit limit.
“When it comes to whether a consent vote would be a tool to do what they could do through reconciliation anyway, a more laborious process, I should think about it. Because then that would get to the point, ”said Senator Mike Braun (R-Ind.), A hard-line fiscal conservative.
In terms of dragging things out as long as possible with procedural hurdles or long marathons of amendment voting, Braun replied, “I’m not necessarily interested in that.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who leads the charge of obstructing any debt bill, was evasive when asked if he would support easing the party line so that Democrats lift the borrowing limit. “It will depend on the circumstances,” he said.
It is conceivable that Congress will run into the Treasury Department’s Oct. 18 deadline when the agency expects to run out of money to keep paying government bills on time. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that even waiting until the last minute could have dire economic consequences.
“The only end of this political theater will be the complete surrender of Chuck Schumer, and he knows it,” said Cruz.
Schumer has consistently pushed McConnell’s calls to steer a debt vote through the procedural thicket of reconciliation, although on Tuesday he refused to rule it out entirely before Wednesday’s critical stand-alone vote. He argued that Republicans should either provide 10 votes to overcome an obstruction or agree to vote on the borrowing limit with a majority threshold.
“Reconciliation is a long and complicated process. We have shown the best way forward; we are moving in that direction, ”Schumer said after his party lunch, at which Democrats discussed a possible debt ceiling obstruction exclusion.
Republicans could make reconciliation easier for Democrats by giving time to debate and smoothing out the process in committee. Going down that route to raise the borrowing limit would also trigger another vote-a-rama, an amendment vote endurance race that allows the GOP to force a litany of tough votes.
There could even be two votes-a-ramas, as Democrats must revise their budget and then pass a debt ceiling bill. The scope of any Republican amendments would be smaller, however, focusing only on the debt ceiling, and the GOP could make the process less painful by forcing fewer votes.
But that would require some coordination between the disparate wings of the Republican Party.
Senator Shelley Moore Capito (RW.Va.) said if Democrats back down and choose the path of reconciliation, Republicans should not make it “a prolonged exercise.” Senator Kevin Cramer (RN.D.), a member of the Budget Committee, agreed that he was “not interested in throwing up a bunch of roadblocks”. And Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) Said that once Democrats choose reconciliation, “I don’t see the need to prolong this. I think the important thing is that they vote.
But retired Sen. Richard Burr (RN.C.) took a hard line against giving an inch. Burr said that even if Congress opposes the default, he will not change tactics because Schumer “could solve this problem today.”
“Why would we give up the tools that we have in the minority when we are treated like it’s 59-41, not 50-50? Burr said. “I don’t think we’re going to do anything to bail them out. “
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