Don’t play “Russian roulette with the economy”

• McConnell said “Democrats shouldn’t play Russian roulette” with the economy because his party refuses to help avoid a default.
• “Step up and raise the debt ceiling and cover whatever you are committed to throughout the year,” he told reporters.
• There is no indication that the debt ceiling deadlock will be resolved anytime soon.

Senatorial Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Democrats are playing a dangerous game by not raising the debt ceiling to avoid a default on US bills, even though it is one he has. begin.

“My advice to this Democratic government, the President, the House and the Senate: do not play Russian roulette with our economy,” he said at a press conference on Wednesday. “Raise and raise the debt ceiling and cover whatever you are committed to all year.”

McConnell does not budge from his refusal to renew the nation’s ability to pay its bills, known as the debt ceiling. He swears Senate Republicans won’t provide the support needed to pass a measure to avoid a federal default, even though he says he doesn’t want the United States to do so. It can cause financial collapse and plunge the nation into another

recession
if Congress does not act on time.

“If Mitch McConnell means Democrats shouldn’t play Russian roulette with the economy, why is he the one who loaded the gun in the first place?” Zach Moller, director of economic policy at center-left think tank Third Way, told Insider. “He was the one who put the bullet in the gun and stuck it on the table.”

Democrats insist Republicans must cooperate to raise the country’s borrowing limit, as they have done three times under the Trump administration. “This idea that Republicans are intentionally cratering the economy to make a political point is so dangerous,” Connecticut Senator Christopher Murphy told Insider. “We can’t do anything about the debt ceiling without it being bipartisan.”

Democrats could lift the debt ceiling themselves using a stand-alone measure. But it would take a long and arduous process to complete a pair of voting sessions known as vote-a-ramas – made even trickier because they would have to approve the measure in both the House and Senate while holding a very thin majority.

The Treasury Department is using special measures to keep the United States paying its bills, but those will run out next month. The House passed a measure on Tuesday to avoid both a government shutdown and default on Wednesday night, but Senate Republicans led by McConnell are poised to sink it into the upper chamber.

House Budget Speaker John Yarmuth said on Monday it could take Democrats “at least” two weeks to lift the debt ceiling themselves. But his position changed on Wednesday and he told reporters that his staff concluded that there was not enough time to do so.

“Parliamentary hurdles prevent us from changing this reconciliation bill or settling the debt ceiling through reconciliation,” Yarmuth said in a statement to Insider. “The House passed legislation last night to suspend the debt ceiling and keep government open. The ball is now in Senator McConnell’s court.”

He continued, “If he does not support this bill – or at least make sure it is not obstructed – our country will default and our government will close its doors. The decision is now. hers.”