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Washington lawmakers are on track to raise the U.S. debt limit, acting ahead of a key deadline to avoid an unprecedented default.
The Senate is scheduled to vote first on a debt-limit increase on Tuesday, setting up a separate vote by the House that would send legislation to President Joe Biden for signature.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said his chamber will vote on a bill raising the debt limit by $2.5 trillion. That punts the issue past the November 2022 midterm elections.
“The resolution we will vote on will provide for a raising of the debt limit to a level commensurate with funding necessary to get into 2023,” said Schumer, a New York Democrat.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had urged Congress to raise the borrowing limit before Wednesday, saying she believed she would run out of room to avoid the first-ever U.S. default soon after.
Last week, President Joe Biden signed a bill that is designed to allow Democrats to raise the U.S. debt limit on their own. Democrats control 50 Senate seats, and Vice President Kamala Harris would break any ties in the chamber. The deal allowing Democrats to raise the debt limit was the product of talks between Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican. No Republicans are expected to vote on Tuesday for the bill lifting the borrowing limit.
Democrats “want to create even more inflation on their own. So, as Republicans have made clear for months, they will have to own a debt ceiling increase as well,” McConnell said last week.
Schumer has said his party wants to pass the debt-limit increase “to pay the debts we have already incurred, just like any household must do.”
