Republicans are challenging themselves not to raise the debt ceiling

When lawmakers return to Washington next week, there will be plenty of deadlines: 10 days to fund the government and just a matter of weeks to find a way to raise the nation’s debt limit before the country defaults. their debt, but so far there is no indication that the two parties are sitting down to resolve their differences. It is raising the prospect of a crisis fall on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers could be on the verge of stopping and defaulting on credit in a matter of weeks.

Democrats could use a special budget process to approve the debt ceiling increase on their own with just a simple majority, but have decided against it, choosing to force the issue.

Instead, Democrats will need 60 votes for their effort and even members who often cross party lines already declare they will not help Democrats this round.

“No, it won’t happen,” Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney said when asked if there was any way to vote to raise the debt ceiling.

“We should not default on our debts under any circumstances,” they wrote. “If Democrats threaten a default, it will only be because they refuse to vote for raising the debt ceiling needed for their irresponsible spending.”

At a closed-door lunch, McConnell told his colleagues that Democrats would “own” the rising debt limit, according to one person attending, and that so far McConnell has seen few cracks in his conference.

“We don’t need to spend the kind of money Democrats spend, that’s for themselves,” said Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican. “That depends on them.”

The Republican challenge has only grown even when Democrats are considering including rising debt in their spending bill to fund the government, a move that could squeeze Republicans, especially those from hurricane-ravaged states, where funding for disaster relief is crucial. .

“I’ll wait to see how they express themselves,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, who referred to the spending bill as CR, for an ongoing resolution, which keeps funding at current levels for a while. determined. “I think it’s safe to say if they attribute increasing the debt limit to the CR, the CR will fail. It won’t get 60 votes … Democrats control their destiny on that.”

Democrats are looking at other ways to pressure Republicans to raise the debt limit, including other popular targets (such as disaster relief and assistance for Afghan refugees) on a debt ceiling hike combined with debt financing. government. Democrats bet it would be a politically tough vote for Republicans to shut down the government while opposing disaster relief, especially those representing states damaged by Hurricane Ida.

But so far, even Republicans in Louisiana and Mississippi, who experienced the devastation of recent storms and could benefit from emergency funding, show no signs of feeling uncomfortable with the idea of ​​opposing. to this package.

Cassidy said he’s still “committed to disaster relief,” but he needs to see if Democrats start adding “this and that, and this and that.” And Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi, was even more unequivocal: “No, I’m not voting to raise the debt ceiling,” he told CNN.

Meanwhile, throughout the Capitol, House Republicans are expected to be equally united in their opposition to raising the debt ceiling, even as two members of the Republican Party leadership: minority whip Steve Scalise and vice president of the Republican Party Conference, Mike Johnson, come from Louisiana.

More than 100 Republican lawmakers in the House, including Johnson and Mississippi Rep. Michael Guest, signed a letter late last month promising to vote against raising the debt ceiling “through an independent bill, an ongoing resolution or any other vehicle “.

There are still several factors to be resolved. Democrats have not decided with certainty that they will link the debt ceiling to the spending bill, a bet they are well aware could trigger a government shutdown and hamper their effort to approve President Joe Biden’s infrastructure and economic agenda. . And Republicans are not yet being asked to vote for anything. Pressure could always change the dynamic.

But so far Republicans are largely defiant, predicting they would vote against a short-term spending bill if that meant raising the debt ceiling.

“If you’re going to do the debt limit, you have to do it all on your own, separately, and it needs to be tied to something that controls spending,” said Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican.