<p>Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday unveiled a “back-up plan” for raising the debt ceiling in case the ongoing negotiations between congressional leaders and the White House fail to produce a result by an Aug. 2 deadline.</p>
<p>At a Capitol news conference little over an hour before the latest round of negotiations was set to begin at the White House, McConnell described a plan that would allow the debt ceiling to be raised in three separate stages through the end of next year, for a total of $2.5 trillion.</p>