Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Sunday said that President Obama’s wish for a clean debt ceiling increase is “absurd.”
“What we want to do is try to accomplish something for the country,” he said about the GOP approach to raising the debt limit on “Fox News Sunday,” adding that the need to raise the ceiling is a “good opportunity to try to do something about the debt.”
While McConnell reiterated that Republicans in the Senate will not agree to a clean debt increase, he also said that the U.S. never defaults on its debt.
“We’re never going to default,” he said. “We’ve never done that.”
When asked what policy points Republicans might try to tie to a debt limit hike, McConnell mentioned approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, an idea already floated by other Republicans. He also said it was possible that the GOP could try to repeal the “risk corridors” provision in the health care law.
