Mitch McConnell Strategy: Force Democrats to ‘Finance’ $3.5 Trillion ‘Infrastructure’ Plan

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stated Monday his strategy to stop the Trojan horse reconciliation package is to force Democrats to “finance” the $3.5 trillion plan.

“Democrats have all the existing tools they need to raise the debt limit on a partisan basis. If they want 50 lock-step Democratic votes to spend trillions and trillions more, they can find 50 Democratic votes to finance it,” McConnell said from the Senate floor.

“If they don’t want Republicans’ input, they don’t need our help,” he continued.

A Republican shutout would force Democrats to own the massive spending at a time when inflation is reaching historic highs, hurting consumers, and punishing those who have saved cash.

But Democrats could take the gamble, passing both the infrastructure bill and the reconciliation package by sticking to their guns and funding the measures without Republican support.

Some senators appear willing to move forward despite McConnell’s efforts.

“Just coincidentally, these are all the quotes of Mitch McConnell who has said we will never have America default,” Senate Budget Committee chairman Bernie Sanders (I-VT) told reporters Monday. “He’s right.”

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) has also said it would be would be “totally irresponsible” for Republicans to not go along with Democrats to finance the measures by raising the debt ceiling.

“The budget blueprint is expected to be voted on this week in the Senate soon after final passage of the Biden’s bipartisan $550 billion infrastructure package,” Bloomberg reported Monday. “It allows Democrats to bypass Republicans to expand the social safety net and raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations.”

Punchbowl News reported “there’s a good chance that legislation will get blocked by the GOP, triggering a major showdown over the debt and government funding. The current national debt is well over $28 trillion.”