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“I can’t believe the Republicans will let the nation default,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said at a press conference.
The federal government will likely run out of cash by October or November, unless Congress increases the country’s borrowing limit, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
Democrats say they shouldn’t be forced to shoulder the burden of the politically toxic vote themselves, especially given the debt accumulated under the Trump administration. Former President Donald Trump increased government debt by nearly $ 7.8 trillion, but only a small minority of Republicans opposed his massive tax cuts and government spending during the pandemic.
But Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell vowed Democrats “won’t get our help” to raise the debt ceiling, even if failure to do so risks the economy plummeting.
Most Republicans on Capitol Hill have sharply criticized Democrats for passing a $ 1.9 trillion Covid relief bill, $ 550 billion in new federal funding to rebuild the country’s infrastructure and for proposing to spend trillions more to strengthen the social safety net – and are deeply reluctant to increase the debt limit for the United States to meet its obligations.
“They won’t get our help with increasing the debt limit that these reckless plans will require,” McConnell said last week. “They control the White House. They control the House. They control the Senate. They can raise the debt ceiling and if it is raised, they will.”
Senate Democrats have decided not to tie their $ 3.5 trillion budget to an increase in the borrowing limit, even though the process would have allowed them to extend it without the support of Republicans.
Schumer noted Wednesday that the White House and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wanted to raise the debt ceiling in a bipartisan fashion, and that Senate rules for passing a budget “limit what you can do there, and do it. outside gives you more flexibility ”.
“It has always been bipartisan to deal with the debt ceiling,” Schumer said, noting that Democrats joined former President Trump in doing so.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also spoke on Wednesday, saying it was up to both sides to pay the country’s bills.
Pelosi told House Democrats on a private call, “It’s Trump’s money,” according to a source close.
“It pays for his tax scam, it pays for COVID, a responsibility we all share,” Pelosi said. “For Republicans to say they never will is generally irresponsible.”
CNN’s Daniella Diaz, Manu Raju, Morgan Rimmer and Kristin Wilson contributed to this report.
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