A debt-ceiling veteran explains the tricks Republicans could use to avert doomsday: First, process matters. The McConnell process was convoluted, which was helpful because its complexity masked the fact that it really just allowed the debt limit to go up without Republican fingerprints. Therefore another Rube Goldbergian process may be useful again this time.
Second, the ability to assign blame matters. It was important to Republicans that the McConnell process allowed them to blame the president for increasing the debt limit. After all, they voted against raising it!