After negotiations regarding a debt ceiling increase, it appears that lawmakers reached an agreement on Tuesday using a tool that could appeal to both political parties.
Leaders in the House of Representatives introduced a measure that would allow Democrats to ultimately increase the debt ceiling without any votes from Republicans.
As The Wall Street Journal reported:
The bill, which also prevents cuts to Medicare and other programs that threatened to kick in at the end of the year, is the product of weeks of talks between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.). It doesn’t itself raise the debt ceiling. Instead, it sets up a procedure for an additional vote on the issue that would require a simple majority in the Senate rather than the 60 votes needed for most legislation.
“So I believe we’ve reached here a solution to the debt ceiling issue that’s consistent with Republican views of raising the debt ceiling for this amount at this particular time and allows the Democrats to proudly own it, which they’re happy to do,” McConnell said.
Politico reported earlier in the afternoon, “After a leadership meeting and a Senate GOP lunch, McConnell said he’d done enough work to clinch the deal in a vote expected on Thursday.”
“There are always differences of opinion among Republicans about how to handle a delicate issue like the debt ceiling,” McConnell told the press earlier. “I’m confident that this particular procedure coupled with the avoidance of Medicare cuts will receive enough Republican support to clear the 60-vote threshold.
Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) voiced his approval earlier in the day, saying, “I’m going to support Democrats raising the debt ceiling without Republican votes.”
He added, “To have Democrats raise the debt ceiling and be held accountable for racking up the debt is my goal. And this helps us accomplish it.”
However, not all Republicans initially appeared to be in support of the measure. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said, “I don’t think there will be 10 Republican votes to allow the Democrats to raise the debt ceiling.”
Politico also reported that Graham “protested a provision attached to the debt limit rule change, which would prevent automatic cuts to Medicare from kicking in.”
“I don’t like this idea of tying it to Medicare. I don’t like that much at all,” Graham noted.
The measure would make Democrats increase the debt ceiling to a certain amount rather than just prolong it for a certain period of time. The “fast-track process” would also run out after January 15th, per CNN.
Politico reported, “The debt increase would likely range from $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion to ensure Congress won’t have to address the debt again before November midterms, according to several people familiar with the matter.”
Republicans have been steadfast in their desire to see Democrats expand the debt limit rather than do so with Republican support. They viewed the Democrats’ and President Joe Biden’s massive amounts of spending as a reason to force the majority party to use the reconciliation process in order to increase the debt limit.
As The Daily Wire reported, “Before Thanksgiving, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress that the debt ceiling — temporarily suspended by Congress in 2019 — must be raised by December 15.”
“While I have a high degree of confidence that Treasury will be able to finance the U.S. government through December 15 and complete the Highway Trust Fund investment, there are scenarios in which Treasury would be left with insufficient remaining resources to continue to finance the operations of the U.S. government beyond this date,” she warned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). “As the federal government’s cash flow is subject to unavoidable variability, I will continue to update Congress as more information becomes available.”