'We’re on really shaky ground': Kyrsten Sinema says clean debt ceiling bill 'just not going to happen'

07 May 2023

United States Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona) on Sunday accused both political parties of playing games with the nation's debt ceiling and then declared that "the votes don't exist" in either chamber of Congress to pass a stand-alone increase.

Sinema's remarks on Face the Nation come amid warnings by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that the US could default on its obligations as soon as next month, which would trigger a cascade of cataclysms across the global economy.

"You've been listening. What does a deal look like?" CBS News moderator Margaret Brennan asked Sinema, who noted that she agrees with President Joe Biden's desire for a "clean" bill.

"Hmm. I've been disappointed with the conversations. Up to date. Both parties are talking without listening to each other. They're just talking right past each other, right? So President Biden says, I want a clean debt limit to meet the full faith and responsibility of the United States of America. To be clear, he's correct. We must meet the full faith and credit responsibility for the United States of America. That is our duty. However, it's not correct to assume or to pretend that either party is used to, or always is willing to pass a debt limit without conditions," Sinema said. "Both parties have played this game for years and so we're in a situation where one party is saying they will not negotiate at all with the other party. I think that's a very dangerous place to be, cause one, it's not realistic and two, that is not going, it's just not going to happen."

Sinema explained why House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) is struggling to rally right-wing members of his caucus.

"So Kevin McCarthy, as we all saw, took him a long time to become speaker, barely squeaked by with the folks, had to make a lot of concessions to get the job, and he has a very, very, very narrow road to walk. So he has to thread a needle where he can get the votes. He needs to pass a debt limit increase and continue to be speaker," the formerly Democratic senator observed.

"Now there have been sounds coming out from the Republican conference in the house for months. Patrick McHenry, who's the chair of the House Financial Services Committee, Patrick has been talking for months about what a deal could look like. People have not been listening. They should be. I think folks should actually say, let's hear these options," Sinema continued.

"The reality is the bill that Kevin and his colleagues passed with the House is not going to be the solution. Right? The votes do not exist in the United States Senate to pass that, but what the president is offering is not a realistic solution either," Sinema added. "There's not going to be just a simple clean debt limit. The votes don't exist for that. So the sooner these two guys get in the room and listen to what the other one needs, the more likely they are to solve this challenge and protect the full faith and credit of the United States of America. We're on really shaky ground right now."

Watch below or at this link.

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