The administration has determined that if it were to go the reconciliation route on the debt limit, it would face likely opposition from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). And there could be other defectors.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said he wants a bipartisan vote to raise the borrowing cap during the lame-duck session. But Republicans, many of whom are eager to use the limit as leverage to extract legislative concessions from Democrats in the next Congress, have shown no appetite for any such bipartisan approach.
“I don’t think the debt limit issue is until sometime next year”, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday in response to a question about whether he would address it in the lame duck.
That’s left White House officials to all but abandon efforts for a lame-duck move they once hoped might head off a potentially disastrous showdown with the House GOP majority next year. Instead, officials now predict Republicans will get blamed if a bitter fight on the issue harms already choppy markets and further damages an economy that many economists see as close to a recession....
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