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ap photo In this September 8 file photo, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., meets with reporters to discuss President Joe Biden’s national agenda, including passing a bipartisan bill on infrastructure and promoting an expansion of social security for Democrats only. net, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House-backed Congressional Democratic leaders on Monday announced they would go ahead with a vote to fund the government and suspend the debt ceiling, all but bold Republicans who say they will vote against despite the risk of a budgetary crisis.
Congress is rushing headlong into an all-too-familiar impasse: The federal government faces a shutdown if funding ends at the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30. At the same time, the United States risks defaulting on its accumulated debt if the borrowing limits are not canceled or adjusted.
All while Democratic lawmakers scramble to shoulder President Joe Biden’s $ 3.5 trillion “Rebuild better” the order of the day in the House and Senate with strong opposition from Republicans.
“The American people expect our fellow Republicans to live up to their responsibilities and pay off the debts they proudly helped incur,” he added. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer wrote in a joint statement.
From the White House, the president supported the congressional leaders’ plan to organize the votes.
“It is a bipartite responsibility, as was the case under my predecessor”, Biden said in a tweet. “To block it would be inexcusable. “
The scale of the challenges ahead and the speed required to get the job done is unlike anything Congress has encountered in recent memory, situating Biden’s entire national agenda and the political fate of his Democratic Party. at a crucial time.
As Democrats move forward, Republicans, as a minority party in Congress hoping to regain control in the next election in 2022, plan to sit, watch, and wait to see if Biden and his allies can succeed through thick and thin – or fail dramatically.
Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has said he’s not about to help pay off past debts when Biden is about to rack up more with a “reckless” tax and expense package.
“Since the Democrats have decided to go it alone, they will not get help from Senate Republicans in raising the debt ceiling. I explained this clearly and consistently for over two months ”, McConnell said Monday on the Senate floor.
This week’s vote on funding to keep government past September 30 and allow more borrowing will force the political deadlock into the open.
The Treasury Department has warned that it will soon run out of cash and will have to rely on incoming receipts to pay off its obligations, which now stand at $ 28.4 trillion. This could force the treasury to delay or miss payments, a devastating situation.
“This would probably precipitate a historic financial crisis”, wrote Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in the Wall Street Journal.
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