CNN
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Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has in the past devised ways to get out of devastating debt defaults.
This time might be different — at least for now.
Facing the riskiest debt-ceiling standoff in more than a decade, Senate Republican leaders are planning to step back and let the newly empowered House GOP majority work its way out of the impasse with the White House, a risky strategy that has yet to come. It underscores the new power order in a divided Washington.
McConnell and his leadership team are wary of undermining House Republicans and see little chance of success in trying to strike a deal without the express approval of Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Fears of a default soared about four months ago when Senate Republicans said they would sit down and see how House Republicans managed to raise the $31.4 trillion borrowing limit before deciding whether they needed to include themselves in the effort. process.
McConnell’s top deputy, Senate Republican Whip John Thune, said his leadership team wanted to give House Republicans “some space” to strike a deal with the White House.
“At least for now, knowing that House Republicans and the president ultimately have to agree is a matter of seeing what they can come up with,” the South Dakota Republican said Monday. “That would be our best strategy.”
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said some senators may be throwing out ideas to find a way out of the impasse. But he was quick to add: “Ultimately, I think it’s going to have to be negotiated between the House and the White House.”
Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina and another member of McConnell’s leadership team, told CNN: “I’m waiting for the House to act and lead, and we’re going to Followed by.”
McConnell declined to elaborate on his thinking on Monday. But he is confident Congress will somehow avoid a first default.
“We’re not going to default,” the Kentucky Republican told CNN as he walked into his office.
The early posturing resembled the battle in 2011, when the new House Republican majority fought bitterly against the Democratic president, as Republicans sought to use the matter as leverage to set their priorities, while Senate Democrats be prepared to ignore this. The fight led to a downgrade of the country’s credit rating, followed by a deal to raise borrowing limits and cut spending on domestic and defense programs, though some of those cuts were later reversed.
This time, before winning the Speaker’s vote in the 15th ballot, McCarthy promised his Conservative members would only allow the debt ceiling to be raised if a fiscal deal was reached or “consequential fiscal reforms” were won, though the plan was simple about the details. Instead, McCarthy asked President Joe Biden to sit down and negotiate a deal to raise the debt ceiling — a position the White House continues to reject. If McCarthy drops that demand and raises the debt ceiling without his members seeking concessions, any lawmaker could seek a vote to remove him based on the number of Speaker seats he cut to win the job.
“It’s been done three times in the last administration under Donald Trump, so it’s not unusual,” White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre said Monday, reiterating calls for Congress to do so without strings attached. Raise the debt ceiling. “This is something that should be done unconditionally.”
However, this position has come under some friendly attack.
“It’s irresponsible,” Senator Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, said Monday of the White House’s position. “This is a democracy. We have to talk to each other.”
The debt ceiling has been raised or suspended 61 times since 1978, but it’s not uncommon for lawmakers to use the matter as leverage to try to get what they want. But they are often forced to back down as borrowing limits have to be raised to pay bills already owed.
In the last Congress, McConnell called on Democrats, who control the House and Senate, to raise the debt ceiling only through their votes, that is, using a budget process that cannot be blocked and can be approved on a direct party-line vote. Democrats have balked at the request.
McConnell then proposed another way: Pass a new law that would allow Democrats to use a one-time process to raise the debt ceiling based on their own votes. Democrats agreed. It’s similar to another plan Republican leaders pushed when Barack Obama was in the White House: allowing the debt ceiling to be raised even if Congress formally voted against the measure, in an attempt to keep lawmakers at arm’s length politically. A treacherous vote.
This time, however, Republicans say Senate GOP is unlikely to push the party’s strategy.
“Right now, it’s a fight between House Republicans and the president — so I’m not sure we want to be in that fight,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana.
If the impasse doesn’t end, calculus might change.
Some believe a Senate deal can be struck and get 60 votes to break the filibuster, but only if McConnell is present. At that point, the House could vote if 218 lawmakers sign a “petition to remove” and force a full vote in the House, meaning at least six Republicans would have to join the ranks of the 212 Democrats. But the time-consuming process rarely pans out, and several swing-voting House Republicans say they won’t be working toward it — at least not yet.
“It’s definitely the last option,” said Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, from a swing district that is working toward a bipartisan deal on the issue.
