Biden pushes Congress to raise debt limit this week, slams GOP

President Joe Biden on Monday blamed Republicans for blocking efforts to raise or suspend the U.S. borrowing limit and avert a dangerous first-ever default on the national debt.

The president slammed the GOP for what he described as hypocritical behavior: Adding nearly $8 trillion to the U.S. debt during the Trump administration and later refusing to pay for already-approved tax cuts and spending.

Biden said that Republican leaders rejected a White House request that they forgo a filibuster and allow Democrats to pass legislation to raise the ceiling with a simple majority instead with a 60-vote margin.

That plan would theoretically relieve any GOP senators from approving a ceiling increase while simultaneously allowing Democrats to avoid putting a borrowing limit measure into their reconciliation bill that seeks to overhaul the U.S. social safety net.

Republicans “won’t vote to raise the debt to cover their own spending,” Biden said from the White House. “Not only are Republicans refusing to do their job, they’re threating to use their power to prevent us from doing our job: Saving the economy from a catastrophic event.”

“I think, quite frankly, it’s hypocritical, dangerous and disgraceful,” he added. “Just get out of the way.”

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell’s office didn’t immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Biden’s remarks.

The Treasury Department warned last week that lawmakers must address the debt ceiling before Oct. 18, the so-called “drop-dead” date when officials estimate the U.S. will exhaust emergency efforts to honor its bond payments.

Economists can only guess at the economic consequences an unprecedented U.S. default would have, but many — including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen — say they would be “catastrophic.”

Yellen has stressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., that diminished confidence in Washington’s ability to make good on its IOUs on time would likely spark a jump in interest rates across the economy, tarnish the dollar’s role as the globe’s reserve currency and send shockwaves through financial markets.

Politicians in both parties acknowledge that the debt ceiling must be increased or risk economic calamity. Where Republicans and Democrats disagree is on how to lift the limit, with each trying to use the issue as a political cudgel.

Republicans, frustrated by what they view as Democrats’ reckless spending plans, say Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., should include a ceiling suspension in their wide-ranging social policy and climate bill.

Democrats are using a special process known as budget reconciliation to try to pass trillions in spending to expand and create education, health care, climate and other programs. Reconciliation would allow the party to pass that bill with a simple majority in the…