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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned lawmakers the federal government would likely be cash-strapped by October 18 unless Congress raises the debt ceiling. But Congress might not even have that long.
Democrats and Republicans remain at a deadlock on how to solve the problem. Republicans insist Democrats, who control both houses of Congress and the White House, should act on their own using a process known as budget reconciliation, which can only convey the current Democratic majority. Democratic leaders argue that raising the debt limit is a shared bipartisan responsibility and have so far described using reconciliation as a no-starter, noting it would be a cumbersome and tedious route to get down and warning that the risks are too high to do so.
Schumer said the Senate would vote on Wednesday to break an obstruction on a bill passed by the House to suspend the debt ceiling until December 2022, temporarily avoiding the current crisis. But Republicans are expected to stop him moving forward because they maintained they would not help Democrats meet the debt ceiling.
“Tomorrow’s vote is simply a closing vote. It is not a vote to raise the debt ceiling,” he said. “Rather, it is a procedural step to let the Democrats raise the debt ceiling on their own, just as the Republicans have demanded.”
Democrats are now trying to pressure Republicans to allow them to approve an increase in the debt ceiling by a simple majority vote without Republicans obstructing it. But there is no indication so far that the strategy will be successful.
“We say to Republicans, ‘we’re not asking you to vote for this, just vote for this,'” Schumer said, adding, “The minority party can step aside and let the majority provide the votes.”
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