Rick Scott ratchets up war with Mitch McConnell during debt limit battle
Ryan King
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Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) is cranking up his feud with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), maneuvering to pressure the Kentucky sage not to cave to President Joe Biden on the debt limit.
With a debt battle in full swing, Scott has been working to ensure the current negotiations don’t become a rehash of the 2021 debt limit deal cut with Democrats and is seemingly undeterred from crossing McConnell to prevent that.
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“You saw [in 2021] he came out and said in July that we would not participate in raising the debt ceiling, and then … he organized 11 people to say we’ll allow the Democrats to do it on our own. We didn’t follow conference rules. I’m tired of caving,” Scott said, per the Hill.
McConnell defended the move at the time, arguing that he helped pave the way for a one-time procedural exception to allow an increase in the debt limit without the filibuster to put the onus on the Democrats. The deal ensured that a debt ceiling battle would not resurface in close proximity to the 2022 midterm elections.
“I took an amendment vote [in] April to the conference, we adopted it, and then … the leader caved,” Scott told the Hill. “We were going to cut cost or we were going to have structural change.”
Scott was among the GOP Senate signatories on a letter to President Joe Biden last month declaring opposition to a debt ceiling increase “without real structural spending reform,” drawing sharp battle lines. The letter was also a message to McConnell, who didn’t sign the letter.
One of Scott’s recent criticisms of McConnell was his vote on the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill that cleared the prior Congress. Scott wanted McConnell to follow in the footsteps of his peers in the House, who sought to kick the spending debate into the current Congress in which Republicans would have control of the lower chamber and, therefore, more leverage in negotiations with the Biden administration.
A handful of senators, such as Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), publicly fretted that deep divisions within the House GOP caucus would render spending negotiations deeply chaotic. House Republicans subsequently brought proceedings in the lower chamber to a standstill during a protracted fight for the speakership that spanned 15 votes — the most votes needed to become speaker in over 160 years.
The move put McConnell at odds with his House counterpart Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), but now he is seeking to show a unified force on the debt ceiling debate. Scott is trying to ensure McConnell holds the line this time.
“We’re all behind Kevin and wishing him well in the negotiation,” McConnell told reporters, per the Hill.
Scott’s beef with McConnell is well-known throughout the Beltway. He mounted an unsuccessful bid to oust McConnell from the No. 1 Senate Republican slot last November. Behind the scenes, Scott pinned the blame on McConnell for the GOP’s lackluster midterm performance, in which the party lost one seat in the Senate. During the midterm elections, Scott led the Senate GOP’s official campaign arm.
In public, McConnell welcomed the competition at the time, but then earlier this year, he pulled Scott from the Senate Commerce Committee and also did the same for Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT). Scott publicly surmised the move was retribution for challenging him last year.
“He didn’t like that I opposed him because I believe we have to have ideas — fight over ideas. And so, he took Mike Lee and I off the committee,” Scott told CNN following his ouster from the commerce panel.
Last month, Scott embarked on a seven-figure national advertising campaign imploring Republicans to name a new generation of leadership that won’t cave during the high-stakes rows with Democrats, marking an extension of his squabble with McConnell.
“It’s time for Republicans to be bold, speak the truth, and stop caving in,” Scott proclaimed in a 30-second spot.
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Amid the internal Senate GOP feud, McCarthy met with Biden last week for early discussions about the debt limit. Last month, the country hit the statutory limit on the amount of debt it can take on, which has led the Treasury Department to undertake “extraordinary” measures to meet the nation’s current obligations.
Current projections indicate that the federal government will be forced to cease payments for key programs if the debt ceiling is not raised. Should negotiations fail to produce a breakthrough by the June deadline, the United States runs a heightened risk of running into default on its current debt obligations.