– Senator Claire McCaskill, D., had tough words for Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in response to his suggestion on how to raise the debt limit.

Under McConnell’s plan, instead of Congress raising the debt ceiling, the responsibility would be the president’s. Congress’s only ability would be to disapprove, but that would require supermajorities to override a presidential veto. McConnell wants a debt ceiling increase three times before the next election, allowing Republicans to vote against an increase, but allowing the increase to happen, nonetheless.

“I think Mitch McConnell, frankly, has lost his mind,” McCaskill said Thursday on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe.’ “I would just say Mitch, honestly, with a straight face, do a press conference and say, ‘Here’s the solution to the problem: Let’s let the Democrats do it and we want them to do it three times before the next election and it will be OK with us if they do it as long as we don’t have to touch it.’”

“This is when we’re supposed to show the country that we’re capable of governing, not figuring out the best strategy for (McConnell) to become majority floor leader,” she said. “This is all about trying to take out me and other people in tough states so that Mitch can become majority floor leader.”�

McCaskill said if members on both sides tone down the politics, she thinks Congress “can get it done.”

National Republicans say it is McCaskill and Democrats who are playing politics, and attempting to “blameshift” ahead of political consequences.

“With our national debt ballooning past $14.3 trillion, Claire McCaskill and the Democrats have refused to pass a federal budget for over 800 days – and now she wants to shift the blame and stick taxpayers with a trillion-dollar price tag for her reckless deficit spending?” said National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesman Chris Bond.  “Clearly McCaskill is feeling very worried about her uphill reelection bid given her broken promises and recent exposure as a tax cheat, but perhaps she should stop the Washington blame game and start doing her job on behalf of Missourians.”