Reid demands vote on the debt limit, citing ‘utter chaos’ in the GOP

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) says the chaos engulfing the race to replace outgoing Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) leaves GOP leaders no choice but to bring a clean debt-ceiling bill to the floor.

“The utter chaos of the Republican Party must not threaten the full faith and credit of the United States and the American people,” Reid said in a statement. 

{mosads}“Responsible Republican leaders should bring a clean debt ceiling increase to the floors of the House and Senate and immediately let it pass with a bipartisan coalition,” he said.

Year-end talks to set spending levels for fiscal 2016 and extend the nation’s borrowing authority were thrown into limbo Thursday when Boehner’s apparent successor, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), announced he was dropping out of the race.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has told congressional leaders they need to raise the debt limit by Nov. 5 to avoid a national default, giving Congress precious little time to sort out the leadership question in the House and negotiate the debt-limit measure.

“There was a possibility of a big deal including the budget and the debt limit but that’s gone out the window,” said a Democratic leadership aide. “The only option is to bring a clean debt-ceiling bill to the floor because [House Republicans] are not going to have their act together before the deadline hits.”

Senate Republicans say it’s too risky to attempt to extract negotiations from President Obama on the debt ceiling at a time when House Republicans are so divided they can’t agree on Boehner’s replacement.

“I always though they would have to bring a clean debt ceiling bill to the floor,” a senior Republican senator said of his party’s leadership.

A senior Senate GOP aide said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will likely let the House make the first move on the debt ceiling.

“It’s predicated on what the House wants to do and it’s up to Boehner or the new Speaker,” said the aide.

But Reid warned Congress cannot await the outcome of the House GOP leadership races, which were thrown into turmoil Thursday.

“Republican chaos is likely to get worse before it gets better but the economic livelihood of the American people should not be threatened as a result of Republicans’ inability to govern,” he said.