Senate Republicans are rebuffing an effort by Democrats to lift the nation’s debt ceiling through a government funding bill that would require 60 votes. And they’re doing so while relying on the unusual argument that while members of the GOP wholeheartedly want to see the debt limit raised or suspended, they just don’t want to be the ones to do it.

That’s left Biden with few options: Plow forward with the plan and risk default, find an alternate route to raise the debt limit through reconciliation, or convince Republicans — either through badgering or enticing them — to get on board with Democrats…

The administration is working behind the scenes to arrange phone calls between Treasury Department officials and recalcitrant Republicans, appealing to powerful business groups to issue stern warnings of their own and collaborating with progressives to amplify their messaging around the debt limit and implications for the broader economic recovery. They are also coordinating letters and statements from conservative-leaning organizations as well as state and local elected leaders and former government officials…

But those institutions who have sway within Republican ranks and want to see the debt ceiling raised or suspended have not yet taken a hammer to GOP leadership for their insistence that Democrats act alone. Many of the business leaders and groups that Democrats are counting on to help convince Republicans have stuck only to declarative statements about the need for swift action.