Graham threatens to take US past default deadline over Ukraine money
David Sivak
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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is threatening to hold up Senate passage of legislation to raise the debt ceiling unless Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) agrees to a supplemental defense bill later this year.
Senate leaders have until Monday to avoid a possible default, a time crunch complicated by the chamber operating by unanimous consent. Any single senator can hold up the bill, which passed the House in a blowout vote on Wednesday. That means Schumer must negotiate a time agreement to move the legislation quickly.
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A number of senators are demanding amendment votes in exchange for their cooperation, including Graham, who is livid over the below-inflation 3% increase for defense in the bill.
But the senator, one of the chamber’s most vocal defense hawks, added a new demand on Thursday — a commitment from Schumer and the White House that there be a supplemental bill for Ukraine aid and other defense spending.
“I’ve got some amendments, I want votes, but I want to hear from the majority leader and the president of the United States that there will be a supplemental,” he told reporters.
The supplemental is viewed as a way around the $886 billion top-line number in President Joe Biden’s 2024 defense budget, which Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) agreed to as part of an agreement to raise the debt limit.
Without that commitment, Graham is threatening to take the country past the Monday “X-date,” when the Treasury Department predicts it will no longer be able to pay all of its bills.
“I will keep us here to Tuesday until I hear a commitment from the Democratic leader,” he added.
Graham cannot delay the bill indefinitely — it takes about a week to move legislation through the chamber without a time agreement. But the hard line he’s driving goes further than most Senate Republicans.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) is fiercely critical of a debt limit deal he calls “a fake response to burdensome debt” — it only imposes modest spending cuts — but sees no reason to hold up the legislation if he gets an amendment vote. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) appeared ready to move past the debt crisis even if he doesn’t get a vote on his.
“Listen, I think the deal is what it is, and I’m disappointed in it, but I don’t see any reason to drag this out at this point,” Hawley told reporters on Thursday.
Graham is far from alone in his outrage over defense funding in the spending bill. Hawks such as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) are also angling for changes to the bill.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), despite his own misgivings over the Pentagon funding, is nonetheless calling on his conference to support the compromise. In a floor speech Thursday, he said the work to protect America’s national interests is “unfinished.”
Senate leaders are working to get the bill passed as soon as Thursday night, though a delay on amendments could drag things into the weekend. Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) told reporters they are still working to nail down those votes.
“We have to find out which Republicans are insisting on offering amendments and how much time they want on each amendment,” he said.
Each is expected to be set at a 60-vote threshold, meaning they will all likely fail. Senators understand this, hoping to put the chamber on record even if they cannot extract a concession on such a short time frame.
But Graham wants an actual commitment that goes beyond the debt limit fight, saying the compromise legislation is not serious about containing China and amounts to throwing a “lifeline” to Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Asked if he’s willing to hold to his demands even if it means default, he rejected the notion that he wants to let the country go over the fiscal cliff. He noted that one of his amendments would raise the debt ceiling for 90 days, “no strings attached.”
“I’m not going to let us default, but I’m not going to destroy our military in the name of raising the debt,” he said.
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“So, I don’t want to hear any more of this bulls*** about default,” he added. “I don’t want to default.”
The senator declined to say how large of a supplemental he is looking for, deferring to the Pentagon’s own assessment of what it needs. He added that he would be speaking with leadership on Thursday about his demands.