Source: United States Senator for Kentucky Mitch McConnell
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding the debt limit:
“Later today, I will attend a second discussion between President Biden and Speaker McCarthy on the nation’s debt limit.
“The Speaker presented his case to the President in February. House Republicans passed legislation to raise the debt ceiling in April. But as of mid-May, the President of the United States has found just two more occasions to sit down and discuss an agreement to preserve the nation’s full faith and credit.
“The Biden Administration took three months to reach a conclusion that just about everyone else recognized from the beginning: that the only way forward is spending negotiations between the President and the Speaker.
“That’s how seven of the last ten debt limit increases have been secured. It’s how a Republican President and a Democratic Speaker avoided crisis four years ago. And it’s how a Democratic President and a Republican Speaker will avoid it this time around.
“Speaker McCarthy is right: The Senate Democrat majority hasn’t passed a bill to responsibly raise the debt ceiling. The House Republican majority has.
“So that’s where the solution to this looming crisis will be found.
“Last fall, the American people sent a divided government to Washington. They chose to require that President Biden work with House Republicans on the most consequential issues. Now, the President has to make a choice of his own:
“Pretend the last election didn’t happen, or sit down with the Speaker and deal responsibly with our nation’s debt.
“Time is of the essence. So for the second time, I will be glad to sit in at the White House, to support Speaker McCarthy, and to urge President Biden to start operating in reality.”