Mnuchin and McConnell discuss debt limit during brief meeting

Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) discussed the nation’s borrowing limit in a meeting on Tuesday, as an impasse over the debt limit drags on in the upper chamber. 

Mnuchin said the matter came up during a brief meeting with the leader in his office early Tuesday. 

“I was over having breakfast with a bunch of Republican senators this morning. And then I came over to spend time with Leader McConnell and we talked on a range of subjects,” he told The Hill. 

Pressed if the debt limit was among the issues discussed, Mnuchin said while leaving the office that “it was one of the issues.”

The Hill has reached out to McConnell’s office for comment.

The meeting comes months after The Washington Post reported that Mnuchin voiced concerns about a previous debt limit impasse in a conversation with McConnell in September.

Congress has been embroiled in a high-stakes fight over the country’s borrowing limit over the past few months, with just weeks to go until the nation is expected to potentially default on its debt.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned earlier this month that the nation could default not long after Dec. 15 if Congress doesn’t take action on the borrowing limit.

But Democrats and Republicans have been divided over how to tackle the nation’s debt limit. 

For the past few months, Republicans have called on Democrats to address the debt limit on their own by using an arcane maneuver known as budget reconciliation. Democrats have been using the same procedure to try to advance a massive social spending plan in the upper chamber without GOP support.

But Democrats have insisted Republicans work with them to raise or suspend the debt limit, pointing to the multiple instances both parties did so under previous administrations.

In comments on the floor on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) expressed optimism about ongoing talks between he and McConnell about the debt limit, saying the pair had a “good conversation” on the matter recently.

“I look forward to achieving a bipartisan solution to addressing the debt limit soon,” he said.