Rep. Ro Khanna suggested Sunday that the key to resolving the standoff on raising the debt ceiling could be President Biden sitting down with one of his old Senate colleagues: Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.
“The president’s saying he’s not going to be hostage in having veterans cuts on health care, and having cuts on K through 12 education, in having cuts on food stamps, in having cuts in manufacturing to just pay our bills,” Mr. Khanna, California Democrat, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “[Mr. Biden] is saying we can discuss that, we can negotiate, but first pay your bills. I think Senator McConnell understands this, and I think the president will sit down with Senator McConnell. He knows that we can’t default.”
But Mr. McConnell has made it clear he’s in no mood to help Democrats or the White House. He has warned that he and his Senate GOP colleagues would not come to the rescue to support a clean debt-limit raise, despite the Kentucky Republican cutting bipartisan deals in the past.
Mr. McConnell insisted Mr. Biden hash it out with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who last week corralled House Republicans to narrowly pass legislation that would raise the ceiling for one year to avoid default and slash federal spending by trillions of dollars.
“I want to disabuse any of you of the notion that there is any measure clearing the Senate with 60 votes that could be approved by this House, is essentially zero,” Mr. McConnell told reporters last week. “This agreement must be reached because we must never default. The agreement needs to be reached between the speaker and the president.”
Despite Democratic control of the Senate, 60 votes will be needed to overcome a filibuster and pass any measure to avoid default.
Mr. McConnell cited Mr. Biden’s past deal-making skills when he was vice president and a senator from Delaware, urging the president to make spending concessions with a divided Congress.
“The president knows how to do this, he and I did it in 2011, and he knows sometimes in divided government you don’t get things exactly the way you want them,” Mr. McConnell said. “I would remind the president just as he did in 2011, that this is one of those occasions, and until he and the speaker reach an agreement, we will be at a standoff.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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