June 1, 2023 Senate passes U.S. debt ceiling bill

[ad_1]

Senator Peter Welch, Senator Joni Ernst and Senator Mitt Romney. Mariam Zuhaib/AP; Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/Bonnie Cash/Reuters

Senators from both parties on Thursday night defended their decision to back the debt ceiling deal, despite concerns about the legislation.

Senator Peter Welch, a Democrat, noted that while he had concerns about the deal, he planned to vote for it anyway. He said his “biggest concern” is that there is no flaw.

“We have to pay our bills in full and on time, said the senator from Vermont. I would like to remove the debt ceiling, because this hostage-type approach is becoming institutionalized, very dangerous for the country So, bottom line, we have to pay our bills.

On the concessions made by the White House to get a deal, Welch said, I don’t like any of them, but the good news is that we’ve preserved and protected every major initiative of the Biden administration over the of the last year. But no, I don’t like it.

However, he said the administration handled the negotiations as they should.

Senator Joni Ernst expressed concern about defense spending in the bill, but that she thinks “these are things we can overcome.”

We have to do something to control spending, and I think that’s a great first step. I think Kevin McCarthy has negotiated a good deal so far, the Iowa Republican said. It’s not a perfect bill, but I think it’s a much better situation than what we had, maybe, several months ago.

Senator Mitt Romney, a fellow Republican, said passing this bill was better than the alternatives of a net increase in the debt ceiling or a default.

There are positive things in this bill. Is it net better than a simple increase in the debt ceiling? Yeah. Is it better than a defect? Much better than a defect. So it’s a step forward, said the senator from Utah. Is it a home run? No. It might be a single, it might be a double, but I don’t think anyone expected Kevin McCarthy to deliver base runners, and he did.

[ad_2]