McConnell offered Schumer a short-term deal to allow Democrats to raise the debt ceiling to cover the next couple months. But Trump today accused McConnell of folding on the debt limit:
THE HILL – Former President Trump accused Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (D-Ky.) on Wednesday of “folding” in his standoff with Democrats over the debt limit, shortly after the senator proposed a plan to delay a potential default.
“Looks like Mitch McConnell is folding to the Democrats, again,” Trump said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon. “He’s got all of the cards with the debt ceiling, it’s time to play the hand. Don’t let them destroy our country!”
Trump’s statement came just hours after McConnell offered Democrats a deal on temporarily resolving the impasse, as the country is estimated to have just weeks before it defaults on the national debt — a scenario that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said would spark an economic crisis and make the U.S. “a permanently weaker nation.”
The GOP leader proposed a temporary solution that would allow Democrats to raise the nation’s borrowing authority for two more months without having to resort to a procedural move known as reconciliation to circumvent the filibuster — or attempting to eliminate the filibuster for the debt ceiling.
Democratic senators on Wednesday signaled they will accept McConnell’s proposal.
McConnell isn’t offering any votes to raise the debt ceiling, only saying that they won’t block Democrats from raising it for a couple of months, assuming they can do it.
I think this is because of pressure from the RINO ranks in the Republican caucus:
Business groups had been exerting pressure on the GOP over the debt ceiling, and a number of members were uncomfortable with the stalemate given the risk of a default.
“I think you’re going to hear from Leader McConnell. He’s going to outline the proposal that he is prepared to discuss with Leader Schumer, and I think that’s going to give us a way out of the woods, which is what we want,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told reporters after the lunch.
So there you have it. And I bet she’ll probably vote with Democrats to raise it.