46 Senate Republicans sign pledge circulated by Ron Johnson to not aid Democrats on debt ceiling, raising prospects of default showdown
Erin Snodgrass | Publié le
- Nearly all GOP senators have agreed not to help Dems raise the debt ceiling, according to The Wall Street Journal.
- The decision kicks off a battle between Democrats and Republicans over who is responsible for avoiding default.
- See more stories on Insider's business page .
Nearly all Republican Senators have agreed Democrats will have to find a way to raise the debt ceiling without any GOP help, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Forty-six of the fifty Republican Senators have reportedly signed on to a pledge agreeing that they will not help their political counterparts raise the debt limit - a move that could complicate Democrats' hopes of passing a $3.5 trillion budget.
"They shouldn't be expecting Republicans to raise the debt ceiling to accommodate their deficit spending," Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin told The Journal in an interview.
In the 50-50 Senate, Democrats don't have the 60 necessary votes to pass a debt-ceiling increase, which doesn't grant new spending, but instead, allows the Treasury Department to cover Congressional spending that has already been approved through new debt, such as payments to Social Security recipients and veterans.
The debt limit was reinstated on August 1 at $28.5 trillion after being suspended under a 2019 law.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky had previously indicated that Republicans would not assist Democrats in raising the debt limit and retired his point on Tuesday, The Journal reported.
"This debt ceiling is going to cover all of the things that all of us have been opposing," McConnell told the Journal in an interview, adding the Democrats "need to do the responsible thing and raise the debt ceiling, because America must never default on its debt."
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Via PakApNews