Senate Minority Leader McConnell backs McCarthy in debt ceiling drama

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has signed onto a letter backing House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who last month passed a bill in the House authorizing a debt ceiling limit increase but only if it is accompanied by budgetary restraints and other reforms which the Biden administration has so far refused to even consider.

McConnell and more than 40 members of the Senate GOP conference say in the letter that they will not back "any bill that raises the debt ceiling without substantive spending and budget reforms," according to The Hill.

The letter, which is addressed to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), is McConnell's clearest statement to date about what he is willing to support, in advance of the May 9 meeting called by the White House to discuss the issues involved. The Biden administration's position is that Congress must pass a clean debt ceiling hike to avoid a national default in June when the federal government is projected to run out of money.

Despite the claims that failure to raise the debt ceiling limit would automatically lead to a national default, it actually could only occur if the U.S. fails to continue to pay the interest on the national debt. Delayed payment of other expenses and obligations could be problematic, but they would not result in national default.

"The Senate Republican conference is 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 states.  

"As such, we will not be voting for cloture on any bill that raises the debt ceiling without substantive spending and budget reforms," it warns.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is the lead senator on the letter. It was necessary to have at least 40 senators on board to ensure that the GOP can sustain a filibuster of a clean bill to raise the debt ceiling.  

McConnell has said the current negotiations should be handled entirely by President Biden and Speaker McCarthy.

"In this situation, and I've been a through a few of these debt-ceiling dramas, there is no solution in the Senate. We have divided government," he told reporters this week. "The American people gave the Republicans the House, the Democrats have the presidency."

"The president and the Speaker need to reach an agreement to get us past this impasse," he added.