[ad_1]
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Friday warned President Biden that Republicans would not vote to raise the federal debt ceiling in December after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday delivered a A rant on the Senate floor that McConnell called “so partisan, angry and corrosive that even Democrats senators were visibly embarrassed by him and for him.”
After 11 Senate Republicans joined the 50 Democrats in ending debate over a short-term increase in the country’s borrowing limit, Schumer (D-NY) stood up and accused the GOP of ” played a dangerous and risky partisan game “.
“I’m glad their trick didn’t work,” said Schumer, who added that “despite overwhelming opposition from Chief McConnell and members of his conference, our [Democratic] the caucus held on, and we pulled our country off the edge of the cliff that the Republicans tried to push us on. “
“This tantrum summed up and intensified an angry pattern of incompetence on Senator Schumer’s part,” McConnell (R-Ky.) Wrote.
Schumer’s words did not affect the vote on actual legislation to raise the debt ceiling, which followed party lines. But the vitriol was too much for Senator Joe Manchin (DW.Va.), who could be seen holding his head in his hands as Schumer spoke before stepping out of the Senate Chamber in disgust.
“I didn’t think it was appropriate at the moment,” Manchin told reporters who caught up with him. “We must disarm. You can’t play politics. Neither of us can – both sides. Civility has disappeared.
Manchin was not the only one offended by Schumer’s comments, as McConnell wrote to Biden that the majority leader’s “childish behavior only further alienated the Republican members who helped facilitate this short. term [debt ceiling] room. It poisoned the well even more.
Before offering Democrats a short-term increase in the debt ceiling earlier this week, McConnell had insisted they deal with the issue on their own using the reconciliation process, which only requires 51 votes in the Senate. . Democrats argued that any increase in the debt ceiling should be passed with bipartisan support and that to do otherwise would set a bad precedent.
“The Democratic Senate Leader was given three months’ notice to perform one of his most basic government duties,” McConnell wrote. “Surprisingly, even that turned out to be too much to ask. Senator Schumer spent 11 weeks claiming he lacked the time and leadership skills to manage a simple process that would take less than two weeks.
“Whether through weakness or an intentional effort to intimidate his own members, Senator Schumer has brought the nation to the brink of disaster,” McConnell continued. “Embarrassingly, we have come to the point where senators on both sides have argued for leadership to fill the void and protect our citizens. I stepped up.
In addition to the short-term increase of about $ 480 billion that allows the federal government to meet its financial obligations through December 3, McConnell offered Schumer the opportunity to speed up the reconciliation process usually long. Schumer chose the short-term increase because the Main Democrats insisted they had not done so and were not considering using reconciliation to raise the debt ceiling.
“I am writing to make it clear that in light of Senator Schumer’s hysteria and my grave concerns about how another large, reckless and partisan spending bill would hurt Americans and help China, I will not participate in any future effort to mitigate the consequences of Democratic mismanagement, ”McConnell concluded.
“Your lieutenants on Capitol Hill now have the time they claimed they lack to tackle the debt ceiling through stand-alone reconciliation, and all the tools to do so. They can’t make up another crisis and ask for my help.
Some Senate Republicans on Thursday pushed back McConnell’s decision to offer a temporary fix, arguing it provided Democrats with a lifeline as Republicans looked to strong members across the aisle to make to spend the increase along party lines.
“We screwed up. For two months, we promised our base and the American people that we would not help the Democratic Party raise the debt ceiling so that they could spend $ 3.5 trillion to $ 5,000 billion through reconciliation. ” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Fox News’s Sean. Hannity Thursday. “At the end of the day, we blinked. “
Few, if any, House GOP lawmakers are expected to support the bill when it comes to their chamber prosecution on Tuesday. While most of the Republican Senate leadership supported ending the debate on the debt ceiling measure, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) Is among those who should vote against it.
[ad_2]
Source link