Mitch McConnell accuses Democrats of 'sleepwalking' toward a debt default while he blocks every measure they've tried for raising the debt limit

• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell accused Democrats of "sleepwalking" toward a debt default.
• McConnell has blocked Democrats' every attempt so far to raise the debt limit.
• He told Biden in a letter that raising the limit is something Democrats must do alone.

Congress has until October 18 to pass a measure to raise or suspend the debt limit before the government runs out of money to pay its bills. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called on President Joe Biden to "directly engage with Democrats" on the matter and accused Democrats of "sleepwalking" toward a debt default.

McConnell, meanwhile, has blocked every attempt the Democrats have tried so far in raising the debt ceiling.

Democrats are planning to bring forth a bill on Monday that would suspend the debt ceiling, but as McConnell made clear in a letter to Biden, the bill will fail because it will not get any Republican support. He wrote that the GOP will not help Democrats fund their $3.5 trillion social-spending package by raising the debt limit, and in a stance he has reiterated for the past three months, raising the limit is something Democrats must do alone since they are in the majority.

This comes after McConnell blocked the bill House Democrats passed last month that would have averted both a debt default and a government shutdown.

"Bipartisanship is not a light switch that Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer may flip on to borrow money and flip off to spend it," McConnell wrote. "Republicans' position is simple. We have no list of demands. For two and a half months, we have simply warned that since your party wishes to govern alone, it must handle the debt limit alone as well."

McConnell was referring to the reconciliation tactic Democrats used to pass the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill in March, which they were able to accomplish without any Republican votes. He has remained adamant that Democrats can raise the debt limit using that same method, but Biden said in Monday remarks that doing so would be "an incredibly complicated and cumbersome process."

The Republican leader also pointed out in the letter Biden's past opposition toward raising the debt limit under GOP leadership. He wrote that in 2003, 2004, and 2006, Biden, as a member of the Senate, voted against raising the debt limit because "the President's party had to take responsibility for a policy agenda which you opposed."

"Your view then is our view now," McConnell wrote.

As Insider has previously reported, while the government has raised the debt ceiling 57 times to avoid a debt default since 1917, it has become more of a political tool than a true threshold. For example, in 2013, under President Barack Obama, the GOP refused to raise the debt ceiling unless the Affordable Care Act was defunded, which caused the government to shut down for 16 days.

Biden on Monday called out McConnell and Republicans for failing to help the US avoid a debt default and noted how raising the limit would help pay for past spending - specifically the $8 trillion in debt incurred under President Donald Trump.

"Not only are Republicans refusing to do their job, but they're threatening to use their power to prevent us from doing our job - saving the economy from a catastrophic event," Biden said. "I think quite frankly it's hypocritical, dangerous and disgraceful."