The filibuster in the US Senate is now being abused to prevent the Senate passing legislation needed to govern the country. In the latest example the Minority Leader announced he will not allow any Republicans to vote to raise the debt ceiling.

Increasing the debt ceiling just allows the government to pay the bills for things already spent or appropriated by Congress. If the United States Congress does not raise the debt ceiling, the U.S. could default for the first time in its history. CNN has a current article on this.

The questions that occur to me are

• 1. Is Senator McConnell trying to force President Biden to ignore the debt ceiling to carry out his responsibilities as President, setting up a legal challenge?
• 2. Will the partisan stand-off engineered by Senator McConnell convince Democrats in Senate to abolish the filibuster rather than allow economic catastrophe when the U.S. defaults on debts?