Congress

Dems Plan to Combine Debt Ceiling, Disaster Relief, Gov Funding

Written by SK Ashby

Republicans including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have said they won't support an increase in the national debt ceiling even their own policies are still responsible for the vast majority of new debt, but the Biden administration has a plan for making their opposition more politically painful for them.

The White House and congressional Democrats are planning to tie recent headlines to an increase in the debt ceiling and funding to keep the federal government running beyond the end of this month.

The White House asked Congress on Tuesday to include hurricane relief and money for Afghan resettlement in a package to fund the government later this month, upping the ante in the latest shutdown scare.

Those special requests will increase the political pain for any lawmaker planning to oppose the funding patch Congress needs to pass this month to keep government agencies open beyond Sept. 30. Top Democrats have also been flirting with the idea of adding action on the debt limit to that package, a move that would further squeeze Republicans who have pledged zero cooperation as the Treasury Department nears a breaking point on the nation’s borrowing limit. [...]

The hurricane aid, in particular, is an overture to Louisiana Republicans like Sens. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), who have been calling for a significant infusion of community development funds to help the state after it was hammered by six storms in the last year.

Is the GOP going to cause a government shutdown, a national default, and say 'No' to money for their own states all at the same time?

I'm sure some of them will, but they'd be crazy to do so as a majority.

That doesn't mean they won't.