Biden plots debt ceiling blitz to focus the blame on McConnell
After months of playing it cool on the debt ceiling, the White House has quickly begun to turn the screws on Republicans in an attempt to shift blame for the financial brinkmanship squarely onto Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
President Joe Biden entered the escalating standoff on Monday to declare that Senate Republicans were being “hypocritical, dangerous, and disgraceful.” White House press secretary Jen Psaki charged that Republicans under President Donald Trump spent like “drunken sailors” and unveiled a chart comparing the debt they incurred. The White House is also planning to dispatch more surrogates to deliver their debt ceiling message on TV this week, with hopes of framing the debate as one between a Senate minority leader blocking avenues to avoid default while the administration offers swift resolutions.
The latest gambit comes after GOP lawmakers led by McConnell twice thwarted efforts to raise the debt ceiling to avoid an historic default, and continue to insist they’ll do nothing to make it easier for Democrats. And while Biden warned that fiscal cataclysm was a real possibility — entertaining the idea that the debt ceiling would be breached — his allies on Wall Street seemed fine, at least in the interim, with Democrats not backing down.
“To me this is insanity that Republicans who talk like they are so pro-business are screwing around with the full faith and credit of the U.S. government,” Robert Wolf, the former chief executive of UBS Americas and Obama economic adviser, said in an interview. “This shouldn’t be the polarizing issue that everyone is talking about and working on. You want to have a fight over policy — infrastructure and climate action and healthcare benefits — then have that fight. But I don’t think you want to have a fight over the debt ceiling.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/biden-plots-debt-ceiling-blitz-to-focus-the-blame-on-mcconnell/ar-AAP9npU
Being a deadbeat is now a conservative virtue thanks to Donald Trump.
Sen. Schumer warns Senate he’ll scrap recess to push debt ceiling
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) warned lawmakers on Monday that they won’t be going anywhere for the planned fall recess if there isn’t a breakthrough on raising the debt ceiling.
The Senate majority leader wrote in a letter to Democratic colleagues that they cannot allow the country to get any closer to the estimated doomsday deadline of Oct. 18 when the Treasury could default on its obligations if no action is taken.
“If [Minority Leader Mitch McConnell] and his colleagues continue to obstruct our ability to quickly resolve the debt issue, the Senate may have to remain in session through the weekend and possibly through the recess to finish our work,” Schumer added.
Democrats are hoping to resolve an intraparty dispute between moderates and progressives that would allow them to pass both President Biden’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan and a bigger expansion of the social safety net.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/sen-schumer-warns-senate-hell-scrap-recess-to-push-debt-ceiling/ar-AAP8040
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