McConnell warns GOP won’t vote to raise debt ceiling
District of Columbia, Kentucky | July 21, 2021
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is warning that Republicans won’t help raise the debt ceiling and is urging Democrats to include the spending hike in an infrastructure bill that they can pass along party lines.
“I can’t imagine there will be a single Republican voting to raise the debt ceiling after what we’ve been experiencing,” McConnell told Punchbowl News.
McConnell — whose office confirmed his remarks to The Hill — added that Democrats should include the hike in reconciliation, the process they are using to pass a $3.5 trillion spending package by a simple majority in the Senate.
Under a 2019 deal during the Trump administration, Congress agreed to let the government borrow through July 31.
To raise the debt ceiling outside of reconciliation, Democrats would need 10 GOP votes in addition to all 50 members of their own caucus.
But top Republicans have been sending warning signs for months that they won’t agree to a “clean” increase of the debt limit. …
(Excerpts from the Hill)