McConnell says GOP won't help Dems pay for 'socialist shopping list' despite Yellen debt ceiling request

Senate Minority Leader McConnell Monday said Republicans won't vote to raise the debt ceiling after Treasury Secretary Yellen called on Congress to pass the increase via regular order.

McConnell has framed his call for all Republicans to vote against raising the debt ceiling as a protest of the $3.5 trillion spending plan Democrats plan to advance under budget reconciliation. Using that procedural gambit, Democrats can get around the Senate filibuster and cut out Republicans.  The GOP leader said Democrats should "have total ownership" of their "socialist shopping list" and therefore raise the debt ceiling on their own using the budget reconciliation process that empowers them to do so without GOP votes.  But Yellen Monday responded that Congress should increase the limit in a bipartisan manner, as it has done in the past. She specifically noted that raising the debt ceiling is not technically connected to any specific bills.