GOP’s Mitch McConnell offers short-term debt ceiling support to Democrats

Mitch McConnell, the United States Senate minority leader, said on Wednesday that the Republican party would clear the way to suspend the debt ceiling of the country on a short-term basis. The agreement has been reached to let Democratic lawmakers come up with a more long-lasting solution before the end of this year.

In a statement posted on Twitter on Wednesday, McConnell wrote, “To protect the American people from a near-term Democrat-created crisis, we will also allow Democrats to use normal procedures to pass an emergency debt limit extension at a fixed dollar amount to cover current spending levels into December.”

He added, “This will moot Democrats’ excuses about the time crunch they created and give the unified Democratic government more than enough time to pass standalone debt limit legislation through reconciliation.”

The temporary agreement from the side of the Republican party is likely to release some pressure off the lawmakers and extend the deadline to negotiate a new deal. United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned earlier this month that the country is likely to run dry on its emergency efforts to fund the government by October 18.

The Kentucky Republican’s statement on Wednesday also clarified that the GOP will be ready to assist the Democratic lawmakers in expediting a reconciliation bill to extend the borrowing limit, according to reports from CNBC. 

Earlier on Wednesday, United States President Joe Biden urged Republican senators to “get out of the way” and let Democrats suspend the nation’s debt limit, hoping to keep the country’s government from bumping dangerously close to a credit default.

Biden said in a statement from the White House, “They need to stop playing Russian roulette with the US economy”, according to reports from Associated Press.

He added, “Republicans just have to let us do our job. Just get out of the way. If you don’t want to help save the country, get out of the way so you don’t destroy it.”