Lee Forces Biden to Negotiate
Sen. Mike Lee rallied Senate Republicans to block bad debt limit increase
Like a chess master, Utah Senator Mike Lee put Joe Biden in check.
For months, Biden and the media said House Republicans were too fractured to pass a debt limit bill. The president promised he would never negotiate a debt-ceiling compromise with Republicans — only a clean increase (without spending reforms) would do.
Then, when House conservatives wrote and passed a good debit limit bill that cut Biden’s woke and weaponized administration, the Left said he still would not negotiate. The Democrat-controlled Senate would instead pass its own bill and force House Republicans to accept that.
That’s when Lee struck.
He drafted a letter saying he would block a Senate vote on any bill raising the debt ceiling without structural spending reforms like those in the House legislation.
Then Lee — one of Senate Conservatives Fund’s first endorsements back in 2010 and still one of our closest allies — persuaded 42 Republican colleagues to sign the letter with him. Because Senate Democrats need 60 votes to raise the debt limit, Lee’s 43 effectively block Biden’s strategy.
A few days later, the White House caved. The president opened negotiations with House Republicans — including the conservative leaders behind the House bill.
No deal has been finalized yet. And Washington Republicans certainly know how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. But so far, Speaker Kevin McCarthy has played his hand well — including the ace he got from up Mike Lee’s sleeve.