{"id":48362,"date":"2023-01-30T00:43:46","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T00:43:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/mcconnell-senate-gop-happy-to-sit-out-debt-limit-talks-for-now\/"},"modified":"2023-01-30T00:43:46","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T00:43:46","slug":"mcconnell-senate-gop-happy-to-sit-out-debt-limit-talks-for-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/mcconnell-senate-gop-happy-to-sit-out-debt-limit-talks-for-now\/","title":{"rendered":"McConnell, Senate GOP happy to sit out debt limit talks \u2014 for now"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> \n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Senate Republicans say they\u2019re happy to sit out the fight over raising the debt ceiling and cede the negotiations to their colleagues in the House \u2014\u00a0at least for now.<\/p>\n<p>After a bruising year-end battle to pass the omnibus government spending package; Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) using up a large chunk of political capital to help Democrats raise the debt ceiling in 2021; and Republicans taking control of the House, McConnell and members of the Senate GOP caucus neither need nor want to lead the current talks.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>And they believe that House Republicans are in a solid position to win concessions that members in the Democrat-controlled upper chamber could not deliver.<\/p>\n<p>They applauded McConnell saying earlier this week that Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and House Republicans will be the ones dealing directly with the White House in debt talks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe public is on the side of doing something. \u2026 Until we\u2019re clear on what we\u2019re going to do, I\u2019m glad the House is taking that on. I think there will be many of us in the Senate who will welcome that,\u201d Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) told reporters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe haven\u2019t taken the leadership here to do anything about it and I think that they\u2019re clear. \u2026 That\u2019ll be a tricky negotiation over there because someone\u2019s ox is going to get gored along the way,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>But Senate Republicans are still closely watching the talks, waiting to see if McCarthy can unite his narrow majority around a deal and whether that deal is palatable.<\/p>\n<p>A large part of the reason GOP senators are stepping back is simple political reality. Republicans control the House and thus have a better chance of moving their priorities in that chamber.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>But part of it is political capital. After years of McConnell taking the lead on talks, the Kentucky Republican spent much of his in the past year-and-a-half to get the omnibus spending bill over the finish line last month and the debt ceiling raised at the end of 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Both deals prompted blowback and frustration within the Senate GOP,\u00a0especially the 2021 debt ceiling fight. McConnell said that October that he would not help Democrats raise the borrowing limit again and called for them to do so via budget reconciliation. However, he backtracked on those remarks and cobbled together the needed votes to do just that less than two months later.<\/p>\n<p>Given that history, Republicans are happy to allow McCarthy to serve as the chief negotiator this go-around and try his hand at securing concessions from Democrats.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cI think the reason he\u2019s taken that position this time around is because he understands that with the Republican House and the Democratic White House, you\u2019re not going to get anything through the Senate that hasn\u2019t been signed off by a Republican House or be willing to get a signature by a Democratic president,\u201d Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the No. 2 Senate Republican, said of McConnell.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a divided government. \u2026 Ultimately, that\u2019s where I think the negotiation needs to start,\u201d Thune added.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, there remains consternation on the Senate GOP side concerning how their House counterparts will ultimately handle these talks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr4_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters this week that he doesn\u2019t \u201cknow what page they\u2019re on\u201d when asked if he\u2019s on the same wavelength as the House GOP.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As part of his bid to win over detractors in his party to win the Speaker\u2019s gavel, McCarthy promised to make spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. But House Republicans haven\u2019t said where those cuts should come from, and there is said to be disagreement among the members.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Adding to the uncertainty, McCarthy \u2014 unlike McConnell, with whom the president served in the Senate \u2014 hasn\u2019t swung deals over the years with Biden. He did, however, lay down a marker on Thursday as he told Donald Trump Jr., that Republicans \u201cwon\u2019t touch Medicare or Social Security\u201d amid speculation they might attempt to do just that.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr5_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>When Biden and McCarthy will engage in substantial discussions remains very much up in the air. Although Biden has indicated that he is ready to sit down with the newly minted GOP Speaker, the White House has insisted that the debt ceiling is not up for negotiation.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking in Virginia on Thursday, Biden laid into House Republicans who are calling to reform the pair of entitlement programs, panning them for creating \u201cchaos\u201d with their efforts.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey want to cut your Social Security, Medicare. Now, this is the God\u2019s truth,\u201d Biden\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DJJudd\/status\/1618704362402086912\">said. \u201cIt\u2019s almost unbelievable.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr6_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>The president\u2019s call has been backed up by other Democratic leaders, but not all rank-and-file members believe it is realistic.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who met with McCarthy on Wednesday,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/alexanderbolton\/status\/1618689148369666048\">argued\u00a0that the White House\u2019s stance<\/a> is \u201cunreasonable.\u201d The West Virginia centrist has, however, made clear that he too will not accept cuts to Social Security or Medicare.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Even with the ballgame out of their hands for the time being, Senate GOP members say they think their colleagues across the Capitol complex can strike a deal that wins support in the upper chamber.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr7_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<aside class=\"thehill-promo-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/international\/3835373-blinken-heads-to-middle-east-in-wake-of-attacks-on-synagogue-refugee-camp\/\" class=\"thehill-promo-link__link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n\t\tBlinken heads to Middle East in wake of attacks on synagogue, refugee camp\u00a0\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/state-watch\/3835350-thousands-protest-tyre-nichols-death-in-cities-across-the-us\/\" class=\"thehill-promo-link__link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n\t\tThousands protest Tyre Nichols\u2019 death in cities across the US\u00a0\u00a0\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re going to have a default,\u201d Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) told The Hill. \u201cI think there\u2019s enough folks over there that understand how significant that is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a matter of having a discussion about how we go down the path of reducing the amount of debt we\u2019re incurring.\u201c Rounds added. \u201cNow, what is palatable to them is yet to be determined, but I think there are some folks over there that would like the opportunity to have the discussion right now \u2014 and now\u2019s as good a time as any to have that discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Aris Folley contributed.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/__i\/rss\/rd\/articles\/CBMia2h0dHBzOi8vdGhlaGlsbC5jb20vaG9tZW5ld3Mvc2VuYXRlLzM4MzM3MzgtbWNjb25uZWxsLXNlbmF0ZS1nb3AtaGFwcHktdG8tc2l0LW91dC1kZWJ0LWxpbWl0LXRhbGtzLWZvci1ub3cv0gFvaHR0cHM6Ly90aGVoaWxsLmNvbS9ob21lbmV3cy9zZW5hdGUvMzgzMzczOC1tY2Nvbm5lbGwtc2VuYXRlLWdvcC1oYXBweS10by1zaXQtb3V0LWRlYnQtbGltaXQtdGFsa3MtZm9yLW5vdy9hbXAv?oc=5\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senate Republicans say they\u2019re happy to sit out the fight over raising the debt ceiling and cede the negotiations to their colleagues in the House \u2014\u00a0at least for now. After a bruising year-end battle to pass the omnibus government spending package; Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) using up a large chunk of political capital &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48363,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[161],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48362"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}