President Biden may have been hoping veteran Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell would help pressure the House GOP to back away from demands for spending cuts in exchange for lifting the nation’s borrowing limit. But Mr. McConnell has signaled his alliance with the House Republicans on spending reductions in a new letter ahead of Monday’s White House debt ceiling talks.
Mr. McConnell, the minority leader from Kentucky, has added his name to a GOP letter sent to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer that warns Senate Republicans are “united behind the House Republican Conference in support of spending cuts and structural budget reform as a starting point for negotiations on the debt ceiling.”
The letter was first reported by The Hill and is signed by more than 40 GOP Senators.
A Republican source confirmed to The Washington Times that Mr. McConnell added his name to the letter, significantly bolstering its importance.
The letter and McConnell’s signature on it send a strong signal to Democrats and President Biden ahead of Monday’s debt ceiling talks that the Senate GOP won’t back a bill that simply raises the borrowing limit without spending cuts.
President Biden is scheduled to meet Monday with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to discuss the debt limit and Mr. McConnell, who initially planned to stay out of the talks, was invited to the meeting as well and plans to attend.
Democrats view Mr. McConnell as a veteran negotiator who has cut deals in the past with Democrats and Mr. Biden on debt ceiling legislation and has shown a willingness to compromise. But this time he’s siding with the GOP-led House, which passed a debt ceiling bill that raises the borrowing limit but includes spending reductions and other fiscal reforms.
Mr. Biden, Mr. McConnell said, must strike a deal with Mr. McCarthy in order pass a bill in both chambers. While Democrats control the Senate, most legislation, including a debt ceiling bill, requires the support of at least 9 Republicans to advance if every Democrat is voting.
“Speaker McCarthy and House Republicans are the only people in Washington who have actually passed legislation to avoid default,” Mr. McConnell said. “Whatever President Biden and Speaker McCarthy can both agree to will pass the Senate easily. Any bill that doesn’t meet that description appears to have no chance.”
Mr. Biden will sit down with Congressional leaders days after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned the federal government would run out of money to pay the nation’s bills as early as June 1 unless Congress acts to raise the borrowing limit.
Democrats argue there should be no negotiations to raise the debt limit, now capped at $31.4 trillion, because the money is used to pay for past spending.
They are calling on Republicans to agree to pass a bill to raise the borrowing limit with no spending reforms attached and say the House GOP legislation would cut vital programs and services, including health care and public safety.
“They’re trying to hold the debt hostage to us to agree to some draconian cuts, magnificently difficult and damaging cuts,” Mr. Biden said Friday.
