Mitch McConnell’s Senate GOP voted for the U.S. to default and the government to shut down


John Thune, Mitch McConnell, and Roy Blunt.

From left, South Dakota Senate Minority Whip John Toon, Kentucky Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Missouri Senate Republican Policy Committee Chairman Roy Brandt. Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images

  • Senate Republicans avoided federal defaults and blocked measures to fund the government.

  • It ensures that the political brink intensifies beyond the debt cap and brings the United States closer to potential economic turmoil.

  • Democrats can raise the cap themselves, but there is no guarantee of success.

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Senate Republicans, led by minority leader Mitch McConnell, blocked measures to avoid both defaults and government closures on Monday night, as Republicans escalated efforts to upset President Joe Byden’s domestic agenda. It brought the United States one step closer to financial collapse.

All 50 GOP Senators voted against the House-approved law, which suspended debt caps until December 2022 and funded the government until December 3. brink Over the federal government’s ability to pay bills that have upset Congress for months. The bill also included $ 28 billion in disaster relief funding for a community devastated by a recent pair of hurricanes and assistance in resettlement of Afghan refugees in the United States.

The number of failed votes was 48-50, and the bill failed to clear the 60-vote threshold to end a debate known as obstruction. After the vote, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer attacked Senate Republicans and said, “We voted to bring our country straight to the closure of the government and the first failure in our history.” rice field.

McConnell argues that since June, Republicans have not signed an increase in debt limits, an increase in the amount that the US government can repay invoices. “America should never default.” The Republican Party argues that Democrats can take unilateral action to raise the cap and cover this year’s party spending from the Stimulation Act and the $ 3.5 trillion social spending package.

“There is no confusion about who runs this country. [Democrats] North Dakota Republican Senator Kevin Kramer told insiders last week. Many Republicans, including McConnell, have stated that they can support a temporary bill to fund the government after September 30, but have raised their debt caps.

Democrats attack GOP’s rationale to oppose raising debt caps, claiming that both parties are responsible for accumulating federal debt with urgent spending during pandemics and rising domestic spending under the Trump administration bottom.Some Democrats is suggesting To completely remove the debt cap.

The debt cap clash evoked a previous confrontation between the Republican Party and the Obama administration in 2011, causing turmoil in the financial markets and the first ever US credit downgrade. Currently, Republicans have voted against raising the debt cap in an attempt to force Democrats to raise their debt cap, even though they have voted to raise it three times under the Trump administration.

It is not immediately clear whether Democrats will use reconciliation to drive higher debt caps on party lines. This is the same process that we are adopting to avoid Republican social spending plans. This tactic allows Democrats to pass the package with a simple majority vote.

However, due to the strict guidelines governing reconciliation, it can be a time-consuming effort that lasts for weeks without any guarantee that Democrats will be able to succeed.

“I’ve never done this to create a debt limit spin-off. This isn’t a well-understood concept,” said Charlie, a former Democratic Senate budget staff and now a pioneer public relations partner. Ellsworth told the insider. “There are many things that need to be resolved in order to pursue that path.”

The potential default consequences can have immeasurable spillover over the entire US economy.Bipartisan Policy Center Project the Ministry of Finance Between October 15th and November 4th, you will run out of cash to meet your government’s financial obligations.

Since then, millions of elderly people You may face a sudden outage At social security checks, and US soldiers can miss their planned salary.White House Warned Potential federal funding cuts for safety net programs like Medicade.

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