Independent U.S. Sen. Angus King of Maine is characterizing Republican attempts to block raising the federal debt limit “reckless” and only designed to help the party in the 2022 election.
At the heart of the dispute is GOP Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell vowing to use the Senate filibuster to block a simple majority vote to raise the debt limit so that the federal government doesn't default on its obligations.
McConnell says the Democrats who control Congress should raise the debt limit when using a process known as reconciliation to pass President Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion Build Back Better Plan, a lengthy effort already bogged down by negotiations among Democrats themselves.
Speaking Tuesday at an event hosted by the campaign finance reformist group American Promise, King said McConnell and the GOP are playing a dangerous game.
"I can discern no political purpose for this other than just to squeeze the Democrats," he said. "That's all this is about — so the Republicans can go home and say, 'We voted against more spending,' which is not true, by the way. They voted for most of the spending that we're talking about. And it's just pure, unadulterated, 'Can this help us win the next election?'"
King's has expressed some willingness to modify the filibuster rules so that current and future debt limit increases can pass with 50 votes.
That's all the votes Democrats currently have if independents like King and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders vote with them.
Meanwhile, Democrats are trying to increase pressure on Republicans to allow a simple majority vote to raise the debt limit, highlighting the fact that $8 trillion of it was authorized during the Trump administration and when the GOP controlled Congress.
Maine State Treasurer Henry Beck released a statement Tuesday warning of the harmful economic effects of defaulting, while U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told CNBC that it would shove the U.S. economy into a recession.
— Office of the Maine State Treasurer (@OTreasurer) October 4, 2021
"By failing to pay any of our bills that come due would really be a catastrophic outcome," Yellen said.
A spokesman for King said the senator hopes Republicans will come around so that tinkering with the filibuster won't be necessary before the federal government exhausts its borrowing capabilities two weeks from now.
But so far, there's no sign of any cracks in the GOP resistance.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins reportedly told Business Insider that the GOP might support a debt limit increase if Democrats abandon Biden's Build Back Better plan, a sweeping initiative that contains much of the president's domestic policy agenda.
Democrats have firmly rejected that idea and have scheduled a vote to raise the debt limit for Wednesday.
