US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks to the press as US House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) (L) listens, after meeting with US President Joe Biden on the White House in Washington, DC, on January 24, 2023.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
WASHINGTON — Democrats responded to the news that the U.S. could default on its debt as early as June 1 by hardening their public positions, accusing Republicans of holding the nation’s economic welfare hostage to demands for federal budget cuts.
But behind the scenes, President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries have all taken steps prior to now day that might pave the way in which for an eleventh hour take care of a small group of Republicans to avert a default, by raising or suspending the nation’s debt limit.
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The moves underscore a growing disconnect between the political rhetoric of the debt ceiling debate and the private reality of a potentially catastrophic U.S. default that now appears closer than it did just 24 hours ago.
The White House insisted Tuesday that Biden won’t use a gathering he arrange with congressional leaders for May 9 to barter over the debt ceiling. “He’ll make it very clear the way it is Congress’s constitutional duty to act,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “He just isn’t going to barter on the debt ceiling, that just isn’t going to alter.”
However the very undeniable fact that Biden is meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in any respect, nevertheless, signals a major change. It comes after months of Biden and the White House demanding that McCarthy produce a Republican budget and conform to take debt default off the table, neither of which the speaker has done.
Schumer’s maneuvers
Within the Senate, where Democrats have the bulk, Schumer ripped a bill House Republicans passed last week. The measure would raise the debt ceiling in exchange for large cuts to discretionary federal spending. It squeezed through the slim GOP-majority House despite opposition from every Democrat and 4 Republicans.
Schumer said the Republican bill “would tear at the material of American society, impose dramatic cuts to our public security and cut law enforcement dramatically at a time when we want help from them.” He argued that it will end in the “abandonment of veterans [and] terrible job losses.”
Yet moments before Schumer delivered his scathing condemnation of the House GOP bill, he entered that very same bill onto the Senate calendar under a special rule that enables it to bypass the Senate committee process and move right to the ground for consideration.
Schumer also moved a separate piece of laws to the ground – a Democratic bill to suspend the debt limit through Dec. 31, 2024.
There are two ways for Congress to avoid a looming debt default: The primary is by voting to boost the statutory debt limit, currently set at $31.4 trillion. The second is by voting to suspend the limit for a set period of time, essentially stopping the clock on default.
For House and Senate Republicans who’ve promised constituents they are going to not vote to boost the debt limit without first securing major concessions from Democrats on spending, the choice of voting to suspend the debt limit could offer them some room to maneuver without breaking their pledge to voters.
Later within the day, Schumer told reporters that after the Senate passed a so-called “clean” debt ceiling suspension bill, “then we could use [the House GOP bill) for a correct discussion of the appropriations and budget process.”
Jeffries and McConnell weigh in
As Democrats explored their options, Republicans were largely muted on Tuesday. When Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke on the Senate floor immediately after Schumer, he didn’t mention the debt ceiling.
He later insisted that any negotiations must happen between McCarthy and Biden. “The final word solution can be between the Republican House and the president, and the earlier the president and the speaker get about it, the higher off the country can be,” McConnell told reporters at a press briefing.
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks on the the Latest York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in Latest York City, U.S., April 17, 2023.Â
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
On the House side, plans were also in motion Tuesday to start work on a way for Democrats to maneuver a bill to boost the debt limit to the ground without the support of GOP majority leadership using a legislative vehicle generally known as a discharge petition.
Specifically, Jeffries said in a letter to his Democratic colleagues that Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., “just filed a special rule that might allow for Floor consideration of a bipartisan measure to avoid a dangerous default.”
“The filing of a debt ceiling measure to be brought up on the discharge calendar preserves a crucial option,” wrote Jeffries.
A Democratic discharge petition would still face major hurdles, starting with challenge of convincing no less than a half dozen House Republicans to desert to dramatically cross the aisle to vote for a Democratic bill. If it were to pass the House, any bill would then face the 60-vote filibuster threshold within the Senate.
Senate math can be further complicated by the continued absence of California Democrat Dianne Feinstein, who has been away from Washington since February on a medical absence, with no immediate plans to return.
