On Wednesday, some Democrats in Congress seemed to show they would accept the offer presented by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in order to avoid the United States defaulting on its debt.
Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) said, “We intend to take this temporary victory.”
“In terms of a temporary lifting of the debt ceiling, we view that as a victory, a temporary victory with more work to do,” she said to CNN’s Jake Tapper.
“McConnell caved,” Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said after a meeting of the Senate Democratic Conference where the proposal was reportedly discussed. “And now we’re going to spend our time doing child care, health care and fighting climate change.”
Many are expecting Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to make an announcement regarding the Democrats’ answer to McConnell’s proposal on Wednesday.
As reported by The Daily Wire, “Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell offered Democrats on Wednesday a short-term solution to avoid having the U.S. default on its debt, which would tank the economy.”
“McConnell noted in a statement that Senate Republicans have warned Democrats for nearly three months that they would need to use the reconciliation process to raise the debt limit because Republicans do not support Democrats’ extreme agenda.”
“Instead, they drifted to the doorstep of yet another self-created Democrat crisis,” McConnell said. “Whether through miscalculation or a deliberate effort to bully their own members into wrecking the Senate, top Democrats have risked adding a default crisis to the inflation crisis, border crisis, and Afghanistan crisis they have already created.”
“McConnell offered a short-term suspension of the debt ceiling for several weeks to avoid sending the country into default. This offer will also force Democrats to pass a permanent solution on their own when the suspension ends in December,” The Daily Wire noted.
“Republicans remain the only party with a plan to prevent default,” McConnell continued. “We have already made it clear we would assist in expediting the 304 reconciliation process for stand-alone debt-limit legislation. To protect the American people from a near-term Democrat-created crisis, we will also allow Democrats to use normal procedures to pass an emergency debt limit extension at a fixed dollar amount to cover current spending levels into December.”
“This will moot Democrats’ 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,” the statement added. “Alternatively, if Democrats abandon their efforts to ram through another historically reckless taxing and spending spree that will hurt families and help China, a more traditional bipartisan governing conversation could be possible.”
McConnell also sent a letter to Biden this week with a warning that the United States was “sleepwalking toward significant and avoidable danger because of confusion and inaction from the Speaker of the House and the Senate Democratic Leader concerning basic governing duties.”
The move came as Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) pushed back against altering the filibuster for a vote on the debt ceiling.
On Wednesday, Manchin shot down the possibility of amending the filibuster after Democrats reportedly discussed the possibility.
“I truly implore both leaders…to engage, start working, work this out. There should not be a crisis,” Manchin told the press on Wednesday.
“I’ve been very, very clear where I stand, where I stand on the filibuster,” Manchin said. “I don’t have to repeat that. I think I’ve been very clear. Nothing changes. But the bottom line is we have a responsibility to be the adults. Our leadership has a responsibility to lead and that’s what I’m asking, imploring them to do.”