Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell proposed a “last choice option” for increasing the U.S. debt limit in three stages in case President Barack Obama and Congress can’t agree on a deficit-reduction plan.

McConnell’s plan would let the president raise the limit, while accompanying it with a larger amount of spending cuts, unless Congress disapproved his plan with a two-thirds majority, the aide said.

The proposal is “not my first choice,” McConnell said, adding that he wanted to show the financial markets that the U.S. will not default on its debts.

The increases would come in three amounts: by $700 billion, by $900 billion and by $900 billion, McConnell said.