US senators signed a deal Tuesday to create a temporary law that would allow Democrats to avoid defaulting on the national debt, without votes from Republican opposition.
The House of Representatives approved the dissolution in an evening vote. The Senate is also expected to approve the one-time bill in the coming days. Then, Democratic senators can avoid defaulting on the national debt by raising the debt ceiling by 51 by 100 votes.
Crucially, Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, supports the process. “I think it’s in the country’s interest to avoid default,” he told reporters when asked about the complex approach. Republicans can now afford to raise the debt ceiling without actually voting for it, which would be bad for their supporters.
The Center for Bipartisan Politics, a think-tank, said last week that it expects the United States will not be able to meet its payment obligations sometime between December 21 and January 28 unless the debt ceiling is raised. According to US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, this could happen as early as this week.
The debt ceiling, set by the US Congress nearly eighty years ago to enable the government to meet its spending commitments, is at about $29 trillion (€25.7 trillion). The new borrowing limit has not been precisely set, but it is likely to exceed US$30 trillion (€26.6 trillion).
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