Lisa Desjardins:
This was the issue plenty of us on Capitol Hill have been essentially the most anxious about.
I will take you thru what’s occurred right now. And I need to begin first with the coverage. Let me clarify. It is an uncommon resolution that our leaders have give you right now. This is what they need to do.
First, they need to craft a invoice that may mix just a few issues. It could embody a block on Medicare cuts that may routinely occur with out congressional motion. And, with that, it could additionally create nearly a brand new rule permitting for a easy majority within the Senate to cross a debt enhance.
That invoice is now within the Home. What would occur subsequent is, that path-clearing invoice, as I name it, would want to get 60 votes within the Senate. We count on that to occur this week. That will then release the flexibility of the Senate to cross a debt enhance with a easy majority vote. And it could be a political means of saving face for everybody, particularly Senate Minority Chief, the Republican chief, Mitch McConnell, who you keep in mind properly mentioned Democrats must do that on their very own, we won’t assist them increase the debt ceiling.
And he did, nevertheless, say he needed them to do that via reconciliation. Democrats say it is a full reversal on his half. It is a minimum of a five-point flip. However, clearly, the politics have been on — in Democrats’ aspect. They caught it out collectively on this.
Chuck Schumer had his first stare-down with Senator McConnell over this, and he pulled out a win.
Now, I need to additionally speak a bit bit about how this truly took place, since you and I’ve talked so many nights about the entire gridlock, 50/50 Senate, very tough to get something achieved.
Easy. Sat down, the sit-down between Senators McConnell and Schumer day after day after day. Did not leak it. All of them — they talked to one another. And I believe Senator Schumer sensed that Senator McConnell had sort of boxed himself in.
Now, Senator McConnell nonetheless has a political drawback. There are Republicans I speak to who’re very sad with this. They needed extra of a showdown. They suppose the debt ceiling was certainly one of their few items of leverage that they may have used to perhaps have spending caps or make a much bigger assertion. They suppose this was a mistake.
However now Senator McConnell has to get 10 Republicans to vote with him to clear the trail for this debt ceiling. We are going to watch that intently. It feels possible he’ll get these votes. I count on him to be certainly one of them.