Punchbowl News: “McConnell and the GOP leadership struggled all afternoon to round up the 10 votes they need to end a Republican filibuster of the debt-limit legislation, which extends the Treasury Department’s borrowing authority until Dec. 3.”

“This is very un-McConnell like. The deal McConnell cut with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer guaranteed that he could provide the votes to break a filibuster or, alternatively, convince his colleagues to allow Democrats to lift the cap with 50 votes. Despite an afternoon of whipping by the leadership, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rand Paul (R-KY) still insisted on 60 votes, therefore forcing Republican leadership to find 10 GOP lawmakers to vote for cloture.”

“McConnell doesn’t typically enter into a pact like this with the other party without having his votes locked down. It looks like McConnell will get there in the end, but it ain’t been easy.”

Meanwhile, the Washington Post quotes former President Trump: “Looks like Mitch McConnell is folding to the Democrats, again. He’s got all of the cards with the debt ceiling, it’s time to play the hand. Don’t let them destroy our Country!”

An Alaska man faces federal charges after authorities allege he threatened to hire an assassin to kill Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), the Anchorage Daily News reports.

“Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) withheld support for a joint statement condemning last weekend’s protests against Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) because it also wouldn’t include a rebuke of her political views,” Axios reports.

Charlie Sykes: “There are two possibilities here: Bernie is playing some form of ideological four-dimensional chess; or the cranky old guy can’t count to 50 — as in the 50 votes he will need to get anything at all from the reconciliation bill. (There’s a third possibility, but let’s pass over that in the spirit of charity.)”

“In any case, it’s a bold move to piss off one of the swing votes that he absolutely, positively will need someday.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) may think he has a deal with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on raising the debt limit, but McConnell doesn’t have the 10 Republican votes yet to make good on his promise, NBC News reports.

Sen. John Thune (R-SD) told reporters they’ll get there, but it will be a “painful birthing process.”

As Lisa Desjardins overheard someone say near Senate chamber: “Everything about this is so dumb.”

“I don’t understand why we’re folding. This is a complete capitulation, and the argument made yesterday was, well, this may be more pressure than two Democratic senators can stand, regarding changing the filibuster rules. That, to me, is not a very good reason.”

— Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), talking to Fox News about the short term deal to raise the debt limit.