McConnell Blocks Bid To Bypass Filibuster On Debt

The Hill reports:

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) blocked an effort by Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to bypass the 60-vote legislative filibuster on a debt ceiling hike.

Schumer tried to get an agreement to set up a simple majority vote on a bill to suspend the nation’s borrowing limit, which would bypass the filibuster and let Democrats raise it without GOP support.

“Simply allow for a simple majority threshold to raise the debt ceiling and avoid this needless catastrophe that Republicans have steered us toward,” Schumer said. Under the Senate’s rules any one senator can try to set up a vote, but any one senator can also object and block that request.

Read the full article.

SCHUMER asks for unanimous consent to hold a Senate vote to suspend the debt limit at a 51-vote threshold, i.e. no filibuster and Democrats can do it themselves.

McCONNELL objects.

No vote. The Republican filibuster holds.

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) September 28, 2021

McConnell BLOCKS Schumer’s request for an up-or-down vote today on the debt limit, allowing Democrats to vote on their own to do so. Insists Dems embark on a lengthy budget process before passing a one-page bill instead.

— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) September 28, 2021

DEBT CEILING: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) debate the way to raise the debt ceiling on the Senate floor. pic.twitter.com/8jJhtAYZxC

— Forbes (@Forbes) September 28, 2021

McConnell “Democrats won’t get bipartisan help borrowing money so they can blow historic sums on a partisan taxing & spending spree. (Schumer)knew this request would fail. There’s no chance Repubs will go out of our way to help Dems” ram through socialism.https://t.co/SX5bkdzOSO

— Danielle DiMartino Booth (@DiMartinoBooth) September 28, 2021

So @LeaderMcConnell leads his caucus to unanimously oppose the debt ceiling increase he passed 3X under Trump, while he was adding $8 trillion in debt.
And in the House, @GOPLeader is whipping his troops against a bipartisan infrastructure bill, passed by 67 senators.

— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) September 28, 2021