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- Senator Collins has offered GOP support for an increase in the debt limit if Democrats abandon Biden’s economic agenda.
- Democrats categorically rejected Collin’s suggestion as a non-starting.
- Republicans refuse to raise the debt limit, escalating a deadlock that pushes the United States closer to default.
Senator Susan Collins of Maine has suggested Senate Republicans could support an increase in the debt ceiling if Democrats abandon the $ 3.5 trillion social spending package that contains the bulk of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda.
On Monday, she told reporters that “some Republicans would vote to raise the debt ceiling if they knew Democrats were going to drop the $ 3.5 trillion package, which seems unlikely but it’s a deal that could be concluded “.
The Maine Republican echoed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and urged Democrats to unilaterally lift the debt ceiling through reconciliation. It’s the same maneuver the party uses to approve its heavy social spending plan relying solely on Democratic votes and bypassing the unanimous GOP opposition.
McConnell issued a further warning in a letter to Biden on Monday. “For two and a half months, we have simply warned that since your party wants to govern alone, it must also manage the debt ceiling alone,” he added. the letter said, adding that the Democrats “sleepwalking towards a significant and avoidable danger”.
Congressional Democrats aim to expand Medicare and Medicaid, ensure families can access and afford child care, add four years to public education with a universal, no-cost community college school fees, and to renew monthly cash payments to families in their spending proposal. They are looking to get him through by the end of the month, but their hopes for a quick pass are crushed on Republican resistance aimed at derailing Biden’s agenda.
Democrats insist they will not renew the nation’s ability to pay its bills on their own, arguing that it is a responsibility both sides must shoulder. Debt limit refers to the amount that the United States can borrow to repay existing debts. Raising it does not authorize future spending. Democrats have categorically rejected removing Biden’s sprawling national agenda in return for GOP support to lift the debt ceiling as a non-starter.
“Senate Republicans are holding our economy hostage,” said Representative Don Beyer of Virginia, Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said in a tweet. “Mitch McConnell has said he is not asking for the debt ceiling to be lifted, but Susan Collins has played the game: they are demanding that the president abandon the program that the American people elected him to adopt.”
“This reflects the general attitude of the Republican Conference to burn everything when it’s not in power,” a Democratic Senate aide told Insider, who granted anonymity to put it bluntly.
The deadlock over the debt limit intensified on Monday as Biden attacked Republicans in the Senate for blocking Democrats’ efforts to approve a debt limit increase with bipartisan support. He called their actions “hypocritical, dangerous and shameful” at a press conference on Monday.
Nor could he guarantee that the United States would be able to avoid a potentially catastrophic default. “It’s up to Mitch McConnell to decide,” he said.
For their part, Republicans like McConnell agree that the debt ceiling must be raised. Still, they’re pushing for Democrats to use reconciliation, which would require a specific number Republicans could use to hammer Democrats in as budget breakers midway through next year.
The Treasury Department has warned that it may not be able to maintain the government’s financial obligations beyond October 18. Such an event could cause turmoil in financial markets and plunge the United States back into a
recession
.
Democrats have strongly contested the GOP’s justification for opposing the lifting of the debt ceiling, arguing that both sides are responsible for piling up on federal debt with emergency spending during the pandemic and increases in debt. domestic spending under President Donald Trump. Republicans have also raised or suspended the debt ceiling three times under the Trump administration.
“Every day that we delay action, we increase the chances of causing irreversible damage to our global financial system, to our economic recovery and to confidence in our country’s ability to pay its debts,” said the head of Senate majority Chuck Schumer in a speech on Monday.
Democrats can lift the debt ceiling on their own. But it could take a long time and span for at least two weeks with no guarantee that they can be successful before October 18 due to the strict guidelines governing reconciliation.
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