There could be a big fight in Washington come the end of this month, with a reconciliation bill over the debt ceiling set to be debated, and Guy Williams, president of Gulf Coast Bank and Trust, discussed the fight on the horizon on WWL Radio.
“It’s going to be the one must-pass bill that everyone is looking to,” Williams said.
The bill is normally something of a housekeeping procedure that keeps the money flowing to and from the federal government, but with millions of Americans still dependent on Covid relief funds, the bill could become a flashpoint for whether Democrats can push through more robust legislation or whether the moderate wing will team with Republicans to rein in spending.
“[The Democrats] have a thin, thin majority,” Williams said.
“So everything that gets done, you have to have every Democrat voting, you have to have the Vice President there to vote, and you have to have Joe Manchin on board, who is a little bit moderate, Kyrsten Sinema on board, who is a little bit moderate. So it’s tough to get things through.”
Williams said, the showdown will be between those more moderate Democrats and the more progressive wing, who Williams says would sometimes rather pass nothing than compromise and get some of what they want.
“In order to get every single Democratic vote, you also have to get some of the far-left people who want to attach spending to the debt limit. So in order to approve the debt limit to pay the regular debt, they’re going to increase the debt.”
Because of expected Republican opposition, the Democrats will have to likely vote in lockstep to get the bill passed. And because of the bill's importance, other important legislation will likely get put on the backburner until the issue is settled.
“The push and shove is how much money will Joe Manchin be able to tolerate and how little money will Bernie [Sanders] be able to tolerate, because both of them have to vote ‘yes.’”
