McConnell’s debt gamble

AS SENATE MINORITY LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL mulled blocking Democrats from raising the nation’s debt ceiling, he faced two scenarios. Neither was good.

In the first, the U.S. could default on its debt, triggering a global recession and costing Americans millions of jobs. In the second, Democrats could get rid of the filibuster to raise the ceiling without GOP help and create a Senate where the party in power—notably, not McConnell’s—could prevail with a simple majority vote.

So McConnell relented, agreeing on Oct. 6 that Republicans would allow a