Dems duck debt increase

 

Dems perhaps don’t have the votes to increase debt ceiling, now next watch for a senate GOPer to pledge to filibuster any legislation that would increase or suspend the debt ceiling:

The obvious step is for Democrats to include a debt-limit increase as part of the budget resolution they plan to pass in the Senate this week, following Tuesday’s passage of a $1 trillion infrastructure bill. They can pass the budget with 50 Democrats, plus Vice President Kamala Harris, and Republicans can’t stop them. 

Yet the $3.5 trillion resolution includes everything except the debt-limit increase. Democrats plan instead to pair the debt limit with a short-term spending bill after Labor Day designed to keep the government open after Sept. 30. This means that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will have to deliver at least 10 GOP votes to overcome a Senate filibuster. The White House on Monday rolled out Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to provide cover for this gambit, lecturing that raising the debt ceiling is the “shared responsibility” of both parties.

From @WSJopinion: Democrats brag that they can pass a $3.5 trillion spending bill, so why are they ducking responsibility for raising the U.S. debt limit that would let them finance this unprecedented spending? https://t.co/GuQmzFPEUa

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) August 15, 2021