"If they have 50 votes for raising the debt limit and they're in the majority… Why do they think Republicans ought to be involved when they're in the majority?" Grassley, R-Iowa, told Fox News. "They want to spend this four and two tenths trillion – that's one of the reasons why it's got to go up so much – and no Republicans in favor of their programs. Why would we help them to get room in the debt limit to increase their budget."
Forty-six Senate Republicans signed a letter last month pledging that they won't give votes to assist raise the debt ceiling in demonstration of Democrats' massive spending plans, most notably their reconciliation bill.
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They say Democrats have to raise the debt limit either in the reconciliation bill itself or through a separate reconciliation vehicle because the GOP won't support them as long as the majority is still attempting to pass trillions more in spending along party lines.
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Democrats want a bipartisan bill to raise the debt ceiling. Their project as of now is to include the debt ceiling increase in a government funding bill later this year. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., blamed Republicans for "playing dangerous political games" with the debt limit. And he announced he thinks Republicans will cave and "it will ultimately be done in a bipartisan way," in part because business interests may pressure them to get on board.
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Though an adamant Grassley, when asked Tuesday whether he believes Democrats are going to cave, didn't feel the need to speculate. Democrats are going to have to raise the debt limit on their own, he announced.
"When they've got 50 votes, if they're going to spend this four-and-two-tenths trillion, they'll have to have the 50 votes to do it or they aren't getting anything," Grassley said. "So why are they coming to us, I don't understand it?"
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"They might get some Republican support if they don't spend this four-and-two-tenths trillion dollars. That's baked into this whole thing," Grassley continued. "They want us to make room for them to spend money for programs we aren't for. If they want to get rid of that stuff they might get some Republican support."
McConnell, R-Ky., struck a similarly defiant tone on the Senate floor Tuesday, indicating that the GOP is highly unlikely to cave on the position it staked out just over a month ago.
"This isn’t the last four years, when we were reaching bipartisan government funding agreements, bipartisan appropriations, and bipartisan COVID bills," McConnell said. "Democrats are making different choices. They want to make policy all by themselves. So they can come up with the financing on their own as well."
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