Biden tells GOP to ''get out of the way'' on debt limit

“For two and a half months, we have simply warned that since your party wishes to govern alone, it must handle the debt limit alone as well,” the Kentucky senator wrote.

President Joe Biden urged Republican senators to “get out of the way” and let Democrats suspend the nation's debt limit, hoping to keep the U.S. government from bumping dangerously close to a credit default as Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell refuses to lend his party's help.

Mr. Biden's criticism on Monday came with Congress facing an Oct. 18 deadline to allow for more borrowing to keep the government operating after having accrued a total public debt of $ 28.4 trillion. The House has passed a measure to suspend the debt limit, but Mr. McConnell is forcing Senate Democrats into a cumbersome process that could drag on and approach the deadline with little margin for error.

Both Mr. Biden and Mr. McConnell have promised that the country will avoid default, yet the public fight and political posturing risks an economic meltdown. The global economy relies on the stability of U.S. Treasury notes, and unpaid debt could crush financial markets and hurl America into recession. Mr. Biden noted that the debt limit applies to borrowing that has already occurred, including under former President Donald Trump, and said Republicans are hurting the country by blocking the limit's suspension.