Chad Pergram related today the ‘spin’ narrative given by some on why McConnell caved in letting the Democrats raise the debt ceiling and why there’s a big problem with that rationale:
1) There is a lot of spin out there about why Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) backed down from his plan to make Democrats raise the debt ceiling on their own. One narrative is that McConnell was trying to salvage the Senate.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 7, 2021
2) He wanted to keep Democrats from altering one of the Senate’s longest-held traditions: the filibuster.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 7, 2021
3) There has been murmuring for days that Democrats could try a “nuclear option” to upend the Senate’s filibuster provisions, via a simple majority vote, and create a special carve-out for the filibuster pertaining to debt ceiling bills.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 7, 2021
Remember, the deal was just a short-term solution on the debt ceiling, allowing Democrats to raise it without objection for just two months and ultimately kicking it down the road until December.
But some Republicans are having a hard time swallowing the ‘protect the filibuster’ argument because Democrats never actually had the votes to use the nuclear option:
4) But as as say, it’s about the math. It’s about the math. It’s about the math.
Despite a lot of threats and insinuations, the Democrats NEVER had the votes to upend the filibuster for debt ceiling-related bills.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 7, 2021
5) The Senate would need all 50 Democrats – plus, a vote of Vice President Harris, to make the change in Senate filibuster procedure. But it is clear that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) was never willing to provide his vote to change the filibuster.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 7, 2021
6) What remains a deeper mystery is the position of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ).
This is why McConnell is having some trouble selling the new debt ceiling agreement to Republicans. The “changing the filibuster” argument doesn’t hold much water.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 7, 2021
This is something I brought up yesterday, as Manchin has been adamant that he will not make any changes to the filibuster. So if Democrats didn’t have the votes, then Trump was right about Mitch folding when he had the better cards.
However there’s another possible explanation. I believe it’s very possible that one or more RINOs were threatening to vote with Democrats on the nuclear option to end the filibuster for the debt ceiling, to force McConnell’s hand to make a deal. In that instance Democrats wouldn’t have needed Manchin or possibly even Sinema.
Whatever the reasoning, this deal by McConnell sets a bad precedence for December, which Democrats will undoubtedly use as a cudgel to force McConnell into another deal, asking why he’d be willing to raise it before but not again? Unfortunately, I think the writing is on the wall that Democrats will end up getting their debt ceiling increase because of this deal.