Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) insists he will not intervene with a bailout in the most recent debate between Republicans and a Democratic President as they battle over raiding the debt limit.
McConnell has long been a mainstay in high-profile negotiations; in 2010, he held a lengthy negotiation with President Biden that extended the Bush tax cuts, avoided a national default in 2011, and averted a fiscal cliff in late 2012.
The Senate GOP leader also supported a bipartisan infrastructure package and significant new investments in the domestic semiconductor industry, two major items on Biden’s agenda.
However, McConnell says Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA.) must agree on the debt limit suggesting a Senate proposal cannot pass the House.
McConnell insisted Biden “knows how to” negotiate on the debt ceiling.
The Kentucky Republican explained that until Biden “and the Speaker of the House” come to an agreement, there would be a standoff.
McConnell added that the President and the Speaker must “come together and solve the problem.”
According to Republican aides, McConnell’s strategy has the advantage of ensuring Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), considered by GOP lawmakers as a tougher negotiator than Biden, out of negotiations.
One Senate Republican aide also explained Schumer also has more “leverage” than House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), where Democrats are in the minority.
Yet, some Republicans are skeptical that McConnell won’t step in at the last minute to cut a deal with Democrats.
One Republican Lawmaker, who spoke anonymously, suggested that McConnell was “probably just sitting there” waiting for negotiations to “fail” so he could “come in and be the savior.”
