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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced on Thursday he has accepted Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s offer to move forward with a short-term debt ceiling increase after a weeks-long standoff between the parties, temporarily avoiding a debt crisis.
“We’ve reached an agreement,” Schumer (D-NY) said as he opened the Senate. “Our hope is to get this done as soon as today.”
McConnell (R-Ky.) proposed two options on Wednesday, a short-term solution with a set dollar limit or an expedited reconciliation process allowing Democrats to bypass the filibuster.
In an effort to come to a deal on raising the US debt ceiling ahead of Oct. 18, Schumer and McConnell held talks throughout Wednesday night to hammer out the details.
“We’re making good progress, we’re not there yet, but I hope we can come to an agreement tomorrow morning,” Schumer told reporters Wednesday night.
Despite McConnell’s move to compromise, some Republicans are not on board with letting Democrats use reconciliation to raise the ceiling.
On Thursday morning, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called the move “capitulation.”
“If Democrats want an expedited process to use reconciliation to raise the debt limit they can have it,” he posted to Twitter. “However, if Republicans intend to give Democrats a pass on using reconciliation to raise the debt limit – now or in the future – that would be capitulation.”
Graham warned it could set “a very unhealthy set of events” in motion.
“If Democrats are willing to change the rules of the Senate to avoid raising the debt ceiling through reconciliation they really don’t care and it is time for Republicans to push back,” he said in another tweet.
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