Dems eye pitch by Mitch on debt bill

Senate Democrats on Wednesday indicated that they will accept Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s compromise to pass a short-term debt-ceiling bill, ensuring the federal government does not default on its financial obligations.

The agreement to act on a shortterm hike was still being hashed out Wednesday over issues including whether to suspend the debt ceiling until December or provide a specific amount to be raised.

Republicans have said they would not vote through an increase while Democrats looked to move forward with a sweeping multitrillion-dollar social-spending bill pushed by President Biden and progressives. Republicans instead said Democrats could use the same reconciliation process they planned to use for their spending measures to bypass the 60vote threshold to hike the debt limit.

Democrats have been vehement in their stance that it should not be passed using reconciliation, calling for the increase to be approved on a bipartisan basis. They argue that it’s necessary to pay for spending made under the previous administration and that using reconciliation sets a bad precedent.

The agreement was struck shortly after McConnell called the Democrats’ bluff, offering the option to expedite the reconciliation process or a straight vote on a short-term hike.

“Republicans . . . have already made it clear we would assist in expediting the 304 reconciliation process for stand-alone debt-limit legislation.,” McConnell said. “To protect the American people from a nearterm Democrat-created crisis, we will also allow Democrats to use normal procedures to pass an emergency debt-limit extension at a fixed dollar amount to cover current spending levels into December.”

The deal came hours after Biden said a “meteor” could crash into the US economy if Congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling.

“The United States is the financial rock the world looks to and trusts. Now in one cynical destructive partisan ploy . . . our Republican friends are teetering on that brink here. They are threatening to boot that all away,” Biden said at a virtual gathering with business leaders.

“Now it’s a meteor headed to crash into our economy.”