(Bloomberg) -- The Republican senator in charge of his party’s campaign apparatus urged colleagues not to raise the US government’s legal debt limit until they force Democrats to agree to federal spending cuts.
Senator Rick Scott of Florida, who has emerged as a potential challenger to Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, is backing a course that could lead to a showdown between congressional Republicans and the White House. That’s raising the specter of the 2011 standoff that brought the US to the brink of default, triggering the first-ever downgrade of US debt and a stock market slide.
Key Democrats are seeking to avert a similar scenario by moving to increase the legal limit before the next Congress takes office.
“We shouldn’t be raising the debt ceiling unless we’re gonna do structural change, we’re gonna cut costs,” Scott said Tuesday on Bloomberg Television’s “Balance of Power With David Westin.”
Scott also said Senate Republicans should delay elections for party leaders in the next Congress until after a Dec. 6 runoff for Georgia’s Senate seat.
Allies of Scott and McConnell have clashed in assigning blame for Republicans’ disappointing performance in Senate elections. McConnell allies have pointed to weak Republican candidates in battleground states such as Pennsylvania and Arizona, former President Donald Trump’s role in the midterms and a controversial proposal Scott made to switch Medicare and Social Security from permanent entitlements to temporary programs renewed every five years by Congress.
Scott said a delay would allow more time to assess the party’s election performance and suggested the GOP should focus on how to generate more enthusiasm from its core voters.
“Give people time to have a real conversation about why we didn’t get a majority when 70% of Americans think the country is on the wrong track,” Scott said. “What do we have to do to make sure there is energy on our side?”
Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer mocked Scott in a speech on the Senate floor earlier Tuesday condemning Republicans’ “MAGA insanity.”
“If Republicans want to follow Rick Scott’s lead, make our day,” Schumer said. “Following Senator Scott is like following a blind man right over the cliff.”
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