‘Everybody Needs to Relax’: McConnell Reassures on Debt-ceiling Fight
Both sides of Pennsylvania Ave continue to look for a deal
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell sought to calm jittery Americans who might be growing nervous as the clock begins to tick down to the growing potential for the federal government, for the first time, to default on its bills.
Negotiators from the White House and House Republicans continue to talk, with no deal in sight, over terms to raise the federal debt ceiling.
Without such a deal, the US government will be unable to pay its bills, which will trigger a widespread economic calamity as soon as June 1.
Although Congress has approved an increase in the government's debt limit dozens of times under presidents of both parties in past decades, Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other House Republicans want to hold such an increase hostage to Biden and Democrats agreeing to a raft of draconian cuts in federal spending.
As talks continue to play out in Washington, the leader of Senate Republicans was home in Kentucky where he spoke with reporters and sought to tamp down fears that default would happen.
“Look, I think everybody needs to relax. The last 10 times we raised the debt ceiling, there were things attached to it. This is not that unusual. It is almost entirely required when you have a divided government,” McConnell said. “Regardless of what may be said about the talks on the day-to-day basis, the president and the speaker will reach an agreement, it will ultimately be passed on a bipartisan vote in both the House and the Senate.”
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