Mitch McConnell maintains GOP will not help Democrats raise debt limit

published 9 August 2021

And they're off.

In what looks to be the first move in a major congressional showdown, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has reiterated the GOP's stance on helping (or rather, not helping) the left raise the debt ceiling.

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On Monday, Senate Democrats unveiled the framework for their $3.5 trillion budget resolution, which is to be passed without Republican support. Its provisions address climate change, child care, and jobs programs, but notably, neglect to mention lifting or suspending the debt ceiling. McConnell had cautioned Democrats before that Republicans would not aid in raising the debt limit, and urged his colleagues to handle the issue in their "partisan" reconciliation bill. Also on Monday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen once again implored Congress to, on a bipartisan basis, address the debt limit immediately or risk "irreparable harm to the U.S. economy and the livelihoods of all Americans."

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Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.

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