Senate Minority Leader McConnell's decision was, in part, according to his aides, based on a fear that creating a binary choice between saving the filibuster and saving the economy from a meltdown could break Sens. Manchin and Sinema.
It was a reversal from the monthslong demand that Democrats raise the borrowing limit in their party-line bill of economic and social policies, an ask that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., rejected.on Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., to abandon their support for the 60-vote rule to avert a calamitous debt default.Still, rank-and-file Republicans questioned the leader’s strategy.
Before he unveiled his plans to his conference in a weekly closed-door lunch, McConnell met with the two Democratic senators. In that Republican lunch, McConnell told his members that he was trying to protect Manchin and Sinema.McConnell's decision was, in part, according to his aides, based on a fear that creating a binary choice between saving the filibuster and saving the economy from a meltdown could break Manchin and Sinema as the U.S. barreled toward the Oct. 18 cliff.
But the legislation, which is expected to pass the House and be signed by President Joe Biden, is merely a Band-Aid. Congress will have to deal with it again in two months. And the criticism McConnell faced from within his caucus and from former President Donald Trump, the de facto leader of the party, could make it politically tougher to cut a similar deal in December.
But Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, a moderate, defended McConnell's decision. Asked if it was the right move, she replied,"Yes." Saving the filibuster, she said, would help"save the institution, save the country.
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