Republicans threaten to hold up debt ceiling days before deadline, raising potential for political showdown

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“There really is no other way,” Sen. Marco Rubio says, but Democrats insist that they have no plans to negotiate

Senate Republicans on Wednesday threatened to vote against an increase to the debt ceiling unless Congress first agrees to new spending cuts or other measures, raising the potential for a major political showdown that could carry vast implications for both the global economy as well as President Biden’s agenda.

The new ultimatum marked a reversal for Republicans, who agreed to address the debt ceiling — the statutory amount the government can borrow to pay its bills — multiple times to advance policies under President Donald Trump that helped add $7 trillion to the federal debt during his term.

“We had a pandemic that drove a lot of [spending], but what’s been added on top of it, and what [Democrats] plan to spend moving forward on top of that, I think it calls for some level of sanity,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said. Continue reading.