Economy
Trump blasts McConnell for ‘folding’ to Democrats over debt ceiling
Former President Donald Trump blasted Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday for “folding” to Democrats amid a congressional standoff over the looming deadline to avoid a default.
“Looks like Mitch McConnell is folding to the Democrats, again,” Trump said in a statement. “He’s got all of the cards with the debt ceiling, it’s time to play the hand. Don’t let them destroy our Country!”
In his own Wednesday statement several hours earlier, McConnell said he would support extending the debt limit to December to give Democrats more time to use a budgetary tactic that would allow them to raise the debt limit without any Republican votes.
“The unified Democratic government had two and a half months to address the debt limit through reconciliation,” McConnell said. “Instead, they drifted to the doorstep of yet another self-created Democrat crisis.”
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress recently that if it did not raise the debt limit by Oct. 18, the United States would default on its debt for the first time in its history, which would trigger an economic crisis.
McConnell and Senate Republicans blocked Democratic efforts to raise the debt ceiling, arguing Democrats had the ability to do so on their own. Republicans tied their objections to raising the debt ceiling to their objections to a sweeping social spending bill still under negotiation among Democrats.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats argued Republicans should support a debt ceiling increase because Trump -era tax cuts lead to less revenue and that avoiding a first-ever debt default should be bipartisan.
McConnell offered Republican support for either expediting the reconciliation process “for stand-alone debt limit legislation” or allowing Democrats “to use normal procedures” to pass an emergency extension “at a fixed dollar amount” into December.