Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) sang a different tune from other government officials on Tuesday, urging people to "relax" about the debt ceiling.
McConnell reassured the public that the United States would not default on its loans as the deadline to raise the debt ceiling looms. Talks between the White House and Congress are ongoing ahead of a June 1 deadline, but Republicans have expressed frustration at the speed.
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“I think everybody needs to relax,” McConnell told reporters in Kentucky. “The last 10 times we raised the debt ceiling, there were things attached to it. This is not that unusual. It is almost entirely required when you have divided government. Regardless of what may be said about the talks … the president and the speaker will reach an agreement. It will ultimately pass on a bipartisan vote in both the House and the Senate. The country will not default.”
The minority leader said his opinion had not changed since the beginning of the year when the Treasury Department first warned that the U.S. had reached its debt limit. However, McConnell urged an agreement between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) soon. McConnell has been a strong supporter of McCarthy throughout the debt ceiling negotiations.
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The Kentucky conservative has also taken a supporting role in the negotiations despite his prominence in the Senate, and he claimed that an agreement was crucial between House Republicans and the White House.
Other government leaders, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, have stressed the importance of reaching a deal by a June 1 deadline. If an agreement is not reached by June 1, there will still likely be a few days before the government can no longer pay its bills. Yellen has warned that a default would cause an economic "catastrophe."