McConnell: 'Unpleasant' debt deal averts potential for government shutdowns
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday he is hopeful that a bipartisan deal can be reached with Democrats over the debt limit and vowed to “never have America default,” even if it’s “unpleasant.”
“The unpleasant alternatives we have in reaching an agreement with a very liberal House of Representatives, getting a caps deal between the president and the speaker is the best option,” he told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo during an exclusive interview, adding that “it prevents chaos, multiple potentials for shutdowns and defaults and all the rest.”
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday that President Trump and Congress were inching closer to a deal on the debt ceiling, which is currently set at $20.46 trillion.
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In order to reach a deal with House Democrats, McConnell said they would “probably have to” raise the debt ceiling again.
However, the last time Congress raised the debt ceiling, fiscal hawk Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, warned that extending the debt limit could add more than $2 trillion in debt over the next 10 years. But, McConnell said: “America can’t default that would be a disaster.”