President Joe Biden opposes amending the filibuster to postpone or raise the debt limit. This effectively rules out a break-the-glass choice to escape financial disaster, according to the president.
According to the White House, Biden Never Wanted to Remove the Filibuster
Biden’s view on altering the filibuster has not shifted, according to White House press spokeswoman Jen Psaki. This arrives as Democrats look for ways to cope with the coming debt ceiling crisis, despite Senate Republicans’ refusal to support.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had told members of Congress earlier in the day that her agency may run out of money by October 18. This would result in a calamitous default on the country’s debt, crippling the whole US economy.
“We anticipate the Treasury to be faced with very little assets at that point, which would be rapidly drained,” the director wrote. “It’s unclear whether we’ll be able to meet all of the country’s obligations after that date.”
If the spending bill costs zero why do we have to raise the debt ceiling, @jrpsaki?
— Freedom Flu Poso 💙❤️💛 (@JackPosobiec) September 29, 2021
For months, there have been concerns about how the debt limit would be increased. However, this is getting more critical as Republican senators attempt to filibuster an increase in debt as the default date nears.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell also said Democrats must raise the debt ceiling on their own. He also shut off all options except one: amended reconciliation legislation that would take up a significant amount of Senate floor time once Democrats might pass it on a partisan vote.
Liberals in Congress are split on if they have sufficient time to accomplish it and what steps they should take next. Last week, the party attempted to push a debt limit increase alongside a bill to support the government. Senate Republicans, however, filibustered the bill.
Liberals sought unanimous approval on Tuesday in order to pass a bare majority to raise the debt ceiling. Conservatives opposed this as well, infuriating White House officials who were already irritated by their failure to vote in lockstep on a vote they were attempting to portray as routine.
McConnell and Cruz say they want us to lift debt limit with only Democrat votes, and then block the way we could do that. US Chamber says it wants debt limit raised, but won’t push Republicans to raise it (#1 funder). Enough with the games. https://t.co/FocgfdYHDg
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) September 28, 2021
Pelosi: Everything is Under Control
Biden worked out his strategy with Pelosi and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, but openly referred to the members of Congress on how to get out of the impasse. They talked about lifting the borrowing limit through a reconciliation bill on Monday evening.
Another alternative is for the Senate to amend its rules so that a bill raising or suspending the debt ceiling is not susceptible to a filibuster. Similar adjustments to the procedures for judicial nominations and Cabinet members have been made by lawmakers.
However, this would require the cooperation of all 50 Democrats in Congress, as well as the signature of VP Kamala Harris. Biden’s rejection would essentially doom such a reform.
For the time being, conservatives argue that liberals had weeks of preparation to go it alone, despite the fact they want to see the debt limit increased — and think it will be accomplished, just not by them.
GOP leaders also widened their ideological and procedural argument, claiming that if liberals can use reconciliation to enact a big social spending plan on their own, they should be able to do this on the debt limit as well.
