I‘ve written a number of posts criticizing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s “last resort” proposal for raising the debt ceiling, which I see as a legislative gimmick being used to escape responsibility. It would allow Republicans to effectively vote to raise the debt limit while claiming they voted against it. Yet it’s also worth noting that if the GOP is going to seek shelter under the McConnell proposal, so, too, could endangered Democrats.
The idea behind the McConnell proposal is that it would allow Congress to vote on a resolution disapproving of a proposed debt ceiling hike, which President Obama would then veto, but then it would presumably be sustained by just over one-third of the members in each chamber of Congress, thus giving Obama the increase he seeks. Given that Obama would only need 146 votes in the House and 34 votes in the Senate to sustain the veto, it would free up vulnerable Democrats from tough votes.
