Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the Thursday action “a crucial” step to “avoiding the prospect of a catastrophic, calamitous default on our sovereign debt.”
“This is the responsible path forward — no brinksmanship, no default on the debt, no risk of another recession,” Schumer said on the floor. “We still have a few more steps to take before we completely resolve this matter, but I’m optimistic that after today’s vote, we’ll be on a glide path to avoid a catastrophic default.”
The bill the Senate passed Thursday would also avert another fiscal cliff, staving off billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare payments and agriculture subsidies that come as a side effect of using the budget reconciliation process Democrats employed to enact a $1.9 trillion pandemic aid package in March.
The chamber cleared the 60-vote hurdle on the debt limit workaround in a 64-36 vote Thursday afternoon. Fourteen Republican senators supported it, setting in motion the deal Schumer struck with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to allow Democrats to raise the debt ceiling without Republican votes for the increase itself.
While Democrats have yet to divulge a dollar amount for the new debt ceiling they plan to set, the cap is expected to exceed $30 trillion, to ensure Congress won’t need to act again until after the midterm elections next year.
“It will be a shock to the system for everybody — and anybody in the country who really can grasp a trillion dollars,”…
