Former President Donald Trump is ripping Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for offering a temporary extension of the debt ceiling after arguing that Democrats should go it alone.
In a statement on Wednesday, Trump said, âLooks like Mitch McConnell is folding to the Democrats, again.â
He added, âHeâs got all of the cards with the debt ceiling, itâs time to play the hand. Donât let them destroy our Country!â
Read the statement below:
On Monday, McConnell told President Joe Biden that Republicans believe âsince your party wishes to govern alone, it must handle the debt limit alone as well.â
However, on Wednesday, McConnell said in a statement that Senate Republicans would âallow Democrats to use normal procedures to pass an emergency debt limit extensionâ through December to âprotect the American people from a near-term Democrat-created crisis.â
After blasting the Democrats for not moving earlier to use the budget reconciliation process to raise the debt ceiling, the Kentucky senator said his offer will âmoot Democratsâ excuses about the time crunch they created and give the unified Democratic government more than enough time to pass standalone debt limit legislation through reconciliation.â
While McConnell cast his statement as a way to âsaveâ Americans and give his colleagues more time to craft a reconciliation bill and increase the debt ceiling without Republican votes, Democrats are claiming victory.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) claimed the minority leader âcaved.â
Prior to McConnellâs offer, some Democrats were discussing making changes to the filibuster to pass an increase of the debt ceiling, the amount of money the U.S. can borrow to meet its existing obligations, and avoid defaulting on its debt which Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says would yield âcatastrophicâ results.
The filibuster is a procedural hurdle used to delay or block legislation and means that most bills need at least 60 votes to pass the chamber. In the Senate, which is divided 50-50, Democrats would need at least 10 Republicans to vote for legislation for it to pass.
Senate Republicans previously signaled that they would not provide at least 10 votes to lift the debt ceiling. They argue that Democrats should use the budget reconciliation process, which would let them pass a debt ceiling increase with just 51 votes.
Biden said on Tuesday that it is a âreal possibilityâ that Senate Democrats could make a change to the filibuster rules to raise the debt limit, as IJR reported.
CNNâs Manu Raju reports that McConnell decided to offer a short-term extension of the debt ceiling because he was concerned about the pressure facing Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to make a change to the filibuster.
Democrats appeared to be leaning toward accepting McConnellâs offer.
While he still insisted that Democrats vote by themselves to raise the debt ceiling in December, he also said Republicans might engage in a âtraditional bipartisan governing conversationâ if Democrats âabandon their efforts to ram through another historically reckless taxing and spending spree.â
In September, Trump said Republicans would be âfoolish and unpatrioticâ not to use the debt ceiling negotiation to force Democrats to âconcede all of the horror they are trying to inflict upon the future of the United States.â
