Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday said there’s “zero chance” that Congress will fail to increase the debt limit when lawmakers return to Washington next month, as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reiterated his end-of-September deadline for them to act.
“There is zero chance — no chance — we won’t raise the debt ceiling,” Mr. McConnell said at an event with Mr. Mnuchin hosted by Greater Louisville Inc., a local business advocacy group in Kentucky.
“America’s not going to default, and we’ll get the job done in conjunction with the secretary of the Treasury,” Mr. McConnell said.
Mr. Mnuchin reiterated that the extraordinary measures he’s using in his capacity as Treasury secretary to push off the deadline are going to run out at the end of September.
Mr. Mnuchin said that while he’s all for spending controls, it’s his “strong preference” that there is a “clean” debt limit increase.
“As it relates to the debt limit, this is not about spending money — this is about paying for what we’ve spent,” he said.
“We’re going to get the debt ceiling passed,” he said. “I think that everybody understands — this is not a Republican issue. This is not a Democrat issue.”
Some conservatives have demanded that spending reforms accompany any increase in the debt limit.
Senate Minority Charles E. Schumer, meanwhile, has indicated that Democrats could gum up the works on a debt ceiling vote if Republicans push for a deficit-financed tax reform package that cuts taxes for the wealthy.
“To Democrats, tax reform is clear: We believe strongly that not one penny go to the top 1 percent and that any tax reform must be deficit neutral,” Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat, said Monday.
“When Republicans figure out what they want to do, we’d be happy to work with them if they can agree on these broadly supported principles,” he said.
Mr. McConnell said Monday he thinks it’s likely that Republicans will end up with a “revenue neutral” tax package, while acknowledging there’s an ongoing internal debate.
But he had already brushed aside such Democratic demands that the GOP abandon any plans to cut taxes for the wealthy, to pass a deficit-financed package, or to use a fast-track legislative tool that would allow them to bypass a potential filibuster.
Some conservatives, though, have called for passing a big tax cut package first to jump-start the economy and then tackle a more detailed overhaul to the code later on.
Mr. Mnuchin said tax reform is President Trump’s “highest focus” and that they’re 100 percent committed to getting it done.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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