Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.Ĭongress is an angry place these days. Those fears are Republicans’ “most obvious challenge” in calculating how stubborn to be in the debt limit standoff, said Sen. And that might lead to later, additional exceptions for voting rights or other Democratic priorities. GOP leaders worry that if a debt limit standoff moves to the brink of a default, Schumer might be able to persuade Manchin and Sinema to support erasing filibusters against debt limit increases. Manchin and Sinema have said they oppose that change, stymying that option. He predicted both bills would pass but conceded “a horrible possibility” of failure.ĭemocrats have become increasingly open to the idea of weakening filibusters, Senate procedures that have let Republicans wreak legislative havoc by requiring 60 votes in the 50-50 chamber to pass most bills. “I hope to God that is not the case,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Friday. The political consequences for Democrats would be jolting if Biden’s highest priority bill, along with an accompanying $1 trillion infrastructure package, crumble with his party holding the White House and Congress. Money for priorities like the environment, health care and education will have to shrink accordingly.įacing unanimous Republican opposition and paper-thin congressional majorities, Democrats will need near unanimity to succeed. The longer their battles rage, the more the party risks letting the struggles themselves define the effort, distracting from the widely popular programs they hope to include.ĭue to Senate moderates like Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Biden has conceded that the final price tag will likely be much smaller, around $2 trillion. 3, federal agencies will shut down unless Congress approves legislation financing them.ĭemocratic progressives and centrists are fighting over the final size and contents of Biden’s proposed 10-year, $3.5 trillion package of social safety net, climate change and tax initiatives. But it’s unclear how that will happen, and the stakes will be high for leaders to ensure a partisan stare down doesn’t tumble out of control. More on that later.Ĭome December, something has to give.
Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., called it “complete capitulation.”ĭemonstrating the political sensitivities in play, eight of the 11 Republicans who Thursday helped Democrats approve the debt limit increase are either retiring or not seeking reelection until 2024 or later.įriday night, McConnell said he “will not provide such assistance again,” citing “grave concerns” over Democrats’ huge domestic bill and “hysterics” by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Democrats want Republicans to put their imprint on the borrowing limit increase, noting that the $28 trillion national debt is for unpaid bills already incurred, including $7 trillion under former President Donald Trump.īy enabling a two-month reprieve on the fight, McConnell angered Republicans who wanted a tougher stance against Democrats including Trump, still an intimidating force in the GOP.
Republicans want Democrats to raise the debt ceiling on their own to underscore their argument that Biden’s multitrillion-dollar social and environment agenda is unaffordable. House passage, expected Tuesday, would stave off until December a first-ever federal default that could disrupt the global economy, delay government checks to Social Security recipients and others and unleash voters’ wrath on lawmakers.īut the partisan dispute will resume in two months. But Thursday night, 11 Republicans including McConnell joined Democrats in narrowly overcoming a procedural hurdle so the Senate could subsequently approve $480 billion in fresh borrowing. McConnell said since summer that Republicans wouldn’t supply the votes majority Democrats needed to extend the federal debt limit. And then he said he wouldn’t blink again.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., blinked last week.