Senate negotiations continued Wednesday night and into Thursday on extending the debt limit after Sen. Mitch McConnell blinked Wednesday afternoon and indicated that Republicans would not filibuster legislation to lift the debt ceiling for the next few months. Schumer reported the results on the floor Thursday morning: "We have reached an agreement to extend the debt ceiling into early December.”
That agreement reportedly will increase the borrowing authority of the Treasury by $480 billion, enough to fund borrowing until Dec. 3. That's the same day the continuing resolution that is currently funding government operations expires. McConnell only blinked enough to set up a double whammy of hostage-taking to once again ruin the holiday season.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen informed Congress a few weeks ago that she would run out of options for paying our bills on Oct. 18. And for weeks Republicans have been insisting that they would not help Democrats pay the bills, including the $7.8 trillion they amassed in the last four years under the former guy, with the massive tax giveaway to the super rich. In fact, 46 of them signed onto a letter back on Aug. 10 saying: "We … are letting Senate Democrats and the American public know that we will not vote to increase the debt ceiling, whether that increase comes through a stand-alone bill, a continuing resolution, or any other vehicle."
At least six of them are liars, because 10 of them are going to help Democrats increase the debt ceiling in a stand-alone bill either Thursday or Friday. That's possibly because McConnell had real fear that his intransigence was finally going to make Democrats nuke the filibuster, if just for the debt ceiling. He and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin have reportedly been in discussions about it throughout the week. Because of course Manchin is going to coordinate with McConnell.
McConnell himself suggested that on the floor Wednesday, in typical troll-like fashion: "It's not clear whether the Democratic leaders have wasted two-and-a-half months because they simply cannot govern, or whether they are intentionally playing Russian roulette with the economy to try to bully their own members into going back on their word and wrecking the Senate," he said.
It's entirely possible that Democrats were on that brink. One told Politico: "The filibuster is McConnell’s instrument of obstruction … He wants to protect that at all costs. He was at real risk of overplaying his hand as he faced the growing prospect that we would have 51 votes to waive it for the purpose of dealing with debt. He wanted to avoid creating that precedent. Still, would have been better for us to just do it." Yes. It would have. The good news is it could happen in December just as easily, when hopefully they will at the same time just decide to take the whole bogus weapon of the debt ceiling away from McConnell for good.
There's one loud voice for finally ending this stupid fight. "We always do this fucking dance," said Montana's Sen. Jon Tester a few weeks ago. "I don't know if people are going to put their sane minds on and do what needs to be done, or shut it down. This is just a ridiculous exercise … I can't even compare it to anything I do on the farm that's this stupid."
Thursday is likely to be largely devoted to coming to agreement with Republicans on when the debt ceiling vote will occur. Schumer filed for cloture on it Thursday morning, and it would normally take 30 hours to "ripen" for the first procedural vote. He's trying to "hotline" it with McConnell, and get agreement from all Republicans to get it done before Saturday.
That's probably not going to happen, as "a lot" of Republicans are "mad as fire" at McConnell for capitulating, at least according to a Fox News reporter. That makes sense, since the former guy still rules their worlds, and he blasted McConnell after news of the agreement. "Looks like Mitch McConnell is folding to the Democrats, again," he said.
One of those angry Republicans is Trump's loyal puppet and caddy, Lindsey Graham. “I'm upset with us because we had a strategy to make them [Democrats] pay a price to raise the debt ceiling […] We blinked and why because two people are normally made more or threatening to change the rules of the Senate, we make it hard," he told reporters. Then he gave some good advice: "The next thing you know the filibuster dies or carve outs. So, if you want to change the filibuster, change the filibuster."
That agreement reportedly will increase the borrowing authority of the Treasury by $480 billion, enough to fund borrowing until Dec. 3. That's the same day the continuing resolution that is currently funding government operations expires. McConnell only blinked enough to set up a double whammy of hostage-taking to once again ruin the holiday season.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen informed Congress a few weeks ago that she would run out of options for paying our bills on Oct. 18. And for weeks Republicans have been insisting that they would not help Democrats pay the bills, including the $7.8 trillion they amassed in the last four years under the former guy, with the massive tax giveaway to the super rich. In fact, 46 of them signed onto a letter back on Aug. 10 saying: "We … are letting Senate Democrats and the American public know that we will not vote to increase the debt ceiling, whether that increase comes through a stand-alone bill, a continuing resolution, or any other vehicle."
At least six of them are liars, because 10 of them are going to help Democrats increase the debt ceiling in a stand-alone bill either Thursday or Friday. That's possibly because McConnell had real fear that his intransigence was finally going to make Democrats nuke the filibuster, if just for the debt ceiling. He and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin have reportedly been in discussions about it throughout the week. Because of course Manchin is going to coordinate with McConnell.
McConnell himself suggested that on the floor Wednesday, in typical troll-like fashion: "It's not clear whether the Democratic leaders have wasted two-and-a-half months because they simply cannot govern, or whether they are intentionally playing Russian roulette with the economy to try to bully their own members into going back on their word and wrecking the Senate," he said.
It's entirely possible that Democrats were on that brink. One told Politico: "The filibuster is McConnell’s instrument of obstruction … He wants to protect that at all costs. He was at real risk of overplaying his hand as he faced the growing prospect that we would have 51 votes to waive it for the purpose of dealing with debt. He wanted to avoid creating that precedent. Still, would have been better for us to just do it." Yes. It would have. The good news is it could happen in December just as easily, when hopefully they will at the same time just decide to take the whole bogus weapon of the debt ceiling away from McConnell for good.
There's one loud voice for finally ending this stupid fight. "We always do this fucking dance," said Montana's Sen. Jon Tester a few weeks ago. "I don't know if people are going to put their sane minds on and do what needs to be done, or shut it down. This is just a ridiculous exercise … I can't even compare it to anything I do on the farm that's this stupid."
Thursday is likely to be largely devoted to coming to agreement with Republicans on when the debt ceiling vote will occur. Schumer filed for cloture on it Thursday morning, and it would normally take 30 hours to "ripen" for the first procedural vote. He's trying to "hotline" it with McConnell, and get agreement from all Republicans to get it done before Saturday.
That's probably not going to happen, as "a lot" of Republicans are "mad as fire" at McConnell for capitulating, at least according to a Fox News reporter. That makes sense, since the former guy still rules their worlds, and he blasted McConnell after news of the agreement. "Looks like Mitch McConnell is folding to the Democrats, again," he said.
One of those angry Republicans is Trump's loyal puppet and caddy, Lindsey Graham. “I'm upset with us because we had a strategy to make them [Democrats] pay a price to raise the debt ceiling […] We blinked and why because two people are normally made more or threatening to change the rules of the Senate, we make it hard," he told reporters. Then he gave some good advice: "The next thing you know the filibuster dies or carve outs. So, if you want to change the filibuster, change the filibuster."