Samuel Case , FISM News
An irritated President Joe Biden told Republican senators on Monday to “get out of the way” so Democrats can suspend the nation’s debt ceiling. He went on to accuse the GOP of “playing Russian roulette with the U.S. economy” by refusing to assist Democrats in raising the limit.
President Biden: "Republicans just have to let us do our job. Just get out of the way. If don't want to help save the country, get out of the way so you don't destroy it." https://t.co/s6W13OtZMy pic.twitter.com/jSZciC0vYj
— The Hill (@thehill) October 5, 2021
Speaking from the Senate floor on Monday, GOP leader Mitch McConnell asserted that the Democrats have every tool at their disposal to suspend the debt limit on their own. “I suggest that our Democratic colleagues get moving,” McConnell said in a prodding manner.
“The majority doesn’t need our votes,” McConnell said. “They just want a bipartisan shortcut around procedural hurdles they can actually clear on their own.” McConnell asserts that the other side of the aisle will have to address the limit through budget reconciliation.
.@LeaderMcConnell: "The majority needs to stop sleepwalking toward yet another preventable crisis. Democrats need to tackle the debt limit. We gave them a roadmap and three months' notice. I suggest that our colleagues get moving." pic.twitter.com/YRvgGrNLpo
— The Hill (@thehill) October 4, 2021
The idea of raising the deficit through reconciliation has been rejected by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, but is supported by others in the party, such as West Virginia’s Joe Manchin. “They shouldn’t rule out anything. We just can’t let the debt ceiling lapse. We just can’t,” Manchin told reporters on Monday.
Senator McConnell has repeatedly hammered Democrats for urging bipartisanship, while governing via party-line votes. Last week McConnell attacked the Democrat’s push for Republicans to help in raising the debt:
Bipartisanship is not a light switch, a light switch that Democrats get to flip on when they need to borrow money and switch off when they want to spend money.”
Meanwhile on Monday Leader Schumer echoed the president’s call for Republicans to “get out of the way.”
“We aren’t asking Republicans to support it when it comes time for a vote. We only ask that they get out of the way as Democrats pass it on our own, just as the majority party did in the early 2000s,” Schumer said before the Senate. The same day Schumer, in a letter to Senate Democrats, said that the debt limit must be addressed by the end of the week.