Democrats push to fix debt ceiling during lame duck

A Democratic-led push for a bipartisan fix to the nation’s debt ceiling while the party still holds control of Congress is getting a chilly reception from Senate Republicans. 

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters this week that he’d like to “get a debt ceiling done in this work period.” But Schumer also insisted the matter be handled with GOP support.     

“The best way to get it done — the way it’s been done the last two or three times — is bipartisan, and I intend shortly to sit down with the Republican leader and try to work that out,” Schumer said.

While some Senate GOP leaders haven’t ruled out a compromise with Democrats to address the debt limit during the lame-duck session, they’ve also expressed some skepticism about the prospects of a deal. 

Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the No. 2 Senate Republican, told The Hill on Tuesday that the chances of bipartisan action on the debt limit before January are “probably not good.” Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.), a member of GOP leadership, also said he thinks the idea is “less likely.” 

The comments come as Democrats have ramped up calls for bipartisan action on the debt limit before January amid growing concerns over a potential showdown next year, when Congress is projected to usher in a new Republican-led House.

The push follows reporting that House Republicans are considering using the fiscal deadline as a leverage point to secure potential reforms to programs like Social Security that have already generated strong pushback from Democrats.

“We very much want to deal with the debt ceiling in the lame duck,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) told reporters, adding such a move should also “be bipartisan” while expressing concerns about “gutting Social Security.”

“Raising the debt limit sooner rather than later provides assurance to the global markets as well as to our own economy, and the next session is a big unknown,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) also said.

Democrats say the party could use budget reconciliation, an arcane procedure that could allow them to pass legislation raising the debt limit without Republican support in the Senate. But with just weeks remaining until the current congressional session is set to end, Congress is short on time.

“It takes a lot of time, and it ought to be bipartisan as it has been in the past,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said. “It ought to be bipartisan, and there’s even bipartisan ways to do it that kind of put the burden on Democrat shoulders.”

The Bipartisan Policy Center estimated in June that Congress will likely need to take action on the debt ceiling no earlier than the third quarter of next year, or risk a historic default. But Democrats argue waiting until next year will increase those chances. 

“We know how Republicans play here. We know it’s always showdowns. It’s always playing to their base,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said.

Last year, Senate Republicans helped Democrats raise the ceiling as part of a bipartisan deal worked out between Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). But the deal only came just days before experts warned the nation could default on its debt, an outcome that would have devastating effects for the nation’s economy.

At the time, the Treasury Department said it had to resort to “extraordinary measures” to stave off a default.

But Republicans have also expressed resistance to the idea of working with Democrats to act on the debt limit absent broader consideration about the country’s finances.

“I’m not going to be interested in it unless they put some reforms in place that are going to prevent us from running up debt every year,” Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said. 

“I would hope that we’re having a serious conversation about budgeting and about debt if we do that, because that’s always been the issue,” Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said, while adding he thinks a bipartisan debt limit deal over the next few weeks is unlikely.

Some experts similarly say debt limit negotiations and spending reforms must go hand in hand, particularly at a time the nation has seen high spending in response to the coronavirus pandemic. 

“When you lift the debt ceiling, you take a pause, think about whether your fiscal situation is healthy,” Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, told The Hill in a previous interview. 

“And if it’s not, it’s a great opportunity to put in place either policies or processes that could make it better,” she said.

But whether the debt limit will be a problem handled before January remains to be seen.

“It’ll be next year sometime when the extraordinary measures are finished, so we’ll have plenty of time to think about it,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said on Wednesday.