So, McConnell thinks he has us over a barrel. Basically, he'll support funding the government, but not increasing the debt ceiling, no doubt regarding that as a "Democrat problem" and telling us that we need to do it via reconciliation.
I was concerned that he was going to hold funding the government hostage too, because he could have easily have screwed the country over, leaving us to take the fall for his misdeeds.
But the thing is, if he goes along with funding the government, he's handing us the key to breaking this logjam. With two whole months to work with, we can easily insert it into the second reconciliation bill in that time.
That'll make it much harder for the Terrible Two to throw their tantrum over spending. When push comes to shove, they'll have little choice but to support it; if they don't support a bill that increases the debt ceiling, they'll look awful and they'll know it. Especially if we end up dropping the cost a little by reducing the time frame of the programs in BBB.
So we owe McConnell a tiny smidgen of thanks for giving us the leverage we need to actually get that bill pushed out. Not that I feel any obligation to actually thank him, as the "if he was on fire I wouldn't" reasoning applies here.
It'll be even better if the Democrats include language like "we are suspending the debt ceiling for the duration of the pandemic", thus turning the Republican strategy of trying to extend it for political gain against them.