MSNBC’s Joy Reid launched a tirade against Republicans in Congress for refusing to vote to raise the debt ceiling.
The host of The ReidOut show targeted Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky on Wednesday, claiming that he “doesn’t actually care what happens to Americans,” and that Republicans are using the debt problem as a way to discredit Democrats. (RELATED: Democrats Unveil Government Funding, Debt Ceiling Bill That GOP Has Vowed To Oppose)
Reid asserted that the Republicans’ unwillingness to raise the debt ceiling would devastate the economy.
“Confronted with that reality, Republicans say that of course the U.S. can’t default on its loans,” Reid said. “But they refuse to help Democrats in any way.”
She then claimed that McConnell previously declared that defaulting would lead to “disaster,” but had changed his attitude to, “well, Republicans actually have no role to play in seeing the country stay afloat.”
“Well, it’s clear it’s a straight-up dereliction of duty,” Reid continued. “The thing is, Mitch McConnell doesn’t actually care what happens to Americans. He sees an opportunity here for Democrats to be forced to go it alone on increasing the debt limit so that he can run ads against them and get that Senate Majority Leader gavel back. That is really all that he cares about. We already saw the beginning of it today, with Republicans saying that this was the consequence of a liberal spending spree.”
Reid decried that accusation as a lie, and said that during former President Donald Trump’s time in office, Democrats had assisted Republicans in raising the debt ceiling.
The debt ceiling is the amount of money Congress authorizes the federal government to borrow to pay its debts.
The House passed legislation Tuesday evening to increase the debt ceiling. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed to block the bill because of Democrats’ attempt to push a $3.5 trillion budget package.