A growing chorus of Republican senators support reopening the government either as part of or before any agreement to raise the debt limit, despite a House GOP plan to keep the government shuttered while taking the risk of default off the table.
A significant number of GOP senators dismissed the House Republicans’ proposal either as short-sighted or out of touch with the political and economic realities of the shutdown. And at least one member of the GOP Conference said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is still active in leading conversations to resolve the current standoff, as Roll Call first reported last week.
“If we don’t reopen the government, we are failing the American people. We cannot continue to go on [like this],” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who proposed a plan to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling. “With each passing day, the harm is more widespread and the consequences will be more deeply felt by the American people and by our economy. I just don’t see how you can ignore the fact the government is shut down.”
“I don’t think we’re serving any policy or political goals by keeping the government shut down,” said Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who last Congress served in the House.
“I don’t think we should just address the debt limit and not address the shutdown,” said Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H.
“We have two issues, obviously, and they’ve become consolidated here because of the timing. But we need to deal with both the continuing resolution issue and the debt ceiling in a responsible way,” said No. 2 Senate Republican John Cornyn, R-Texas. “Doing just part of it doesn’t solve the whole problem and we need to solve the whole problem.”
The more Senate Republicans call for the government to reopen, the more untenable the House position of perpetuating the shutdown may be.
Since the shutdown began Oct. 1, Senate Republicans have largely taken a back seat to their House colleagues, afraid that anything they might say or do would make Speaker John A. Boehner’s already difficult job nearly impossible.
But as Congress continues to hurtle toward a default deadline, Senate Republicans are beginning to get restless and are hoping to press forward with a plan of their own.
“We have a serious issue before us and it needs a serious solution and I think for any of us to talk about how that resolution may occur right now is just not a way to get there,” said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. “It’s best for us to complete these conversations. They’ve been very active, and Mitch has been leading those formally and I think we’re getting to a good place.”
McConnell has been floating a plan pegged largely to a framework put forth by Collins, which already has the support of Ayotte and Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski. The current iteration of the Senate GOP plan would include a six-month continuing resolution to fund the government, a two-month debt limit hike and a repeal of the medical device tax.
Though it’s unclear what kind of support such a plan might get from Senate Democrats, the White House indicated Thursday it would be willing to accept a short-term debt limit increase. And Senate Republicans are growing tired of sitting around waiting for bills that actually open the government to come over from the House, because they’re not.
A significant number of GOP senators dismissed the House Republicans’ proposal either as short-sighted or out of touch with the political and economic realities of the shutdown. And at least one member of the GOP Conference said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is still active in leading conversations to resolve the current standoff, as Roll Call first reported last week.
“If we don’t reopen the government, we are failing the American people. We cannot continue to go on [like this],” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who proposed a plan to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling. “With each passing day, the harm is more widespread and the consequences will be more deeply felt by the American people and by our economy. I just don’t see how you can ignore the fact the government is shut down.”
“I don’t think we’re serving any policy or political goals by keeping the government shut down,” said Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who last Congress served in the House.
“I don’t think we should just address the debt limit and not address the shutdown,” said Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H.
“We have two issues, obviously, and they’ve become consolidated here because of the timing. But we need to deal with both the continuing resolution issue and the debt ceiling in a responsible way,” said No. 2 Senate Republican John Cornyn, R-Texas. “Doing just part of it doesn’t solve the whole problem and we need to solve the whole problem.”
The more Senate Republicans call for the government to reopen, the more untenable the House position of perpetuating the shutdown may be.
Since the shutdown began Oct. 1, Senate Republicans have largely taken a back seat to their House colleagues, afraid that anything they might say or do would make Speaker John A. Boehner’s already difficult job nearly impossible.
But as Congress continues to hurtle toward a default deadline, Senate Republicans are beginning to get restless and are hoping to press forward with a plan of their own.
“We have a serious issue before us and it needs a serious solution and I think for any of us to talk about how that resolution may occur right now is just not a way to get there,” said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. “It’s best for us to complete these conversations. They’ve been very active, and Mitch has been leading those formally and I think we’re getting to a good place.”
McConnell has been floating a plan pegged largely to a framework put forth by Collins, which already has the support of Ayotte and Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski. The current iteration of the Senate GOP plan would include a six-month continuing resolution to fund the government, a two-month debt limit hike and a repeal of the medical device tax.
Though it’s unclear what kind of support such a plan might get from Senate Democrats, the White House indicated Thursday it would be willing to accept a short-term debt limit increase. And Senate Republicans are growing tired of sitting around waiting for bills that actually open the government to come over from the House, because they’re not.
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