Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer Wednesday sought to expose a rift between Republican leaders over the impending debt ceiling crisis.
A day after President Biden hosted congressional leaders from both parties, Schumer noted that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell categorically vowed the U.S. would not default on its debt, but House Speaker Kevin McCarthy refused to do likewise.
“Speaker McCarthy refused — absolutely refused — to take default off the table,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “Even leader McConnell said unequivocally that, no matter what, the U.S. will not default.”
Schumer was making political hay out of the statements the two top Republicans leaders made after the Tuesday afternoon meeting with Biden.
There seemed to be at least a bit of daylight between McCarthy and McConnell, who has let his House counterpart take the lead in negotiations and has mostly backed him up.
McConnell said: “The United States is not going to default. It never has and it never will.”
Minutes later, McCarthy took a somewhat different spin on the standoff.
“I’ve done everything in my power to make sure we will not default,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy said Biden had directed their staffs to continue discussions, and said the leaders themselves would convene again in person Friday at the White House.
The government will not be able to pay its bills as soon as shortly after June 1 if Congress doesn’t agree to raise the debt ceiling from its current $31 trillion limit.
Schumer’s remarks seemed to invite McConnell to play a bigger role in resolving the standoff, which he has so far resisted doing.
The GOP-led House can pass measures like a plan McCarthy pushed through last week with only Republican votes. But the Democratic-led Senate needs some support from Republicans to overcome the 60-vote filibuster.
A failure to do anything would plunge the U.S. into default with wide-reaching economic impact at home and around the world.
Republicans are demanding sweeping cuts to federal spending and a grab bag of right-wing policy prescriptions in exchange for allowing new borrowing to avoid default.
Biden says he won’t let the country’s full faith and credit be held “hostage” by negotiations over spending — while affirming his willingness to hold talks on the budget only after default is no longer a threat.
A potential fallback position would be for Biden to order payments based on the 14th Amendment, which says federal government debts “shall not be questioned.”