Senate Republicans Stand Firm as Chuck Schumer Plans Debt Ceiling Vote

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) planned a cloture vote on a debt-ceiling increase as Senate Republicans stand firm against Democrat efforts to skyrocket the debt.

Schumer planned a cloture vote on Wednesday to raise the debt ceiling until December 2022 or past the 2022 midterm elections. The vote will require 60 votes to pass the cloture threshold, meaning that the measure will likely not pass. Democrats would need ten Senate Republicans to defect and vote with Democrats for the measure to pass cloture.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has said for months that Senate Republicans will not vote for a debt ceiling increase to prevent Democrats from passing their $3.5 trillion Build Back Better “infrastructure” bill.

Republicans hope to point out that Democrats want to spend several trillion dollars while Americans continue to grapple with inflation ten months into President Joe Biden’s administration.

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 15: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (C) walks with U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (L) (R-MO) and U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-SD) as they leave a Republican Senate luncheon at the U.S. Capitol Building on June 15, 2021 in Washington, DC. The Senate is in negotiations for a bipartisan infrastructure deal. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (C) walks with Sen. Roy Blunt (L) (R-MO) and Sen. John Thune (R-SD) as they leave a Republican Senate luncheon at the U.S. Capitol Building on June 15, 2021, in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Senate Republicans blocked a cloture vote on the debt ceiling in September.

In a letter Monday, McConnell called on Biden to negotiate directly with congressional Democrats on the debt ceiling.

The leading Senate Republican wrote to Biden:

I respectfully submit that it is time for you to engage directly with congressional Democrats on this matter. Your lieutenants in Congress must understand that you do not want your unified Democratic government to sleepwalk toward an avoidable catastrophe when they have had nearly three months’ notice to do their job.

Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough said that Senate Democrats could raise the debt ceiling using budgetary reconciliation. This means that Democrats could the provision in the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better Act.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, said in September, “Democrats control the House, the Senate, and the White House, and they don’t need Republican votes to raise the debt ceiling. Republicans won’t give them the cover of bipartisanship as they try to drive this economy into a ditch.”

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.

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