Congress To Vote On Longstanding Federal Debt Issue

Congress will vote to raise the federal debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion, to $31.4 trillion, as soon as today and thereby end a months-long partisan standoff on the issue and avoid an unprecedented default on the national debt.

The Senate is expected to vote late Tuesday afternoon or evening, with Democrats needing just a simple majority for passage, thanks to an unusual agreement worked out by the majority and minority leaders. The House will also have to approve the measure, either tonight or tomorrow, depending on the timing in the Senate.

Since last summer, when a suspension of the debt limit expired and Treasury officials began warning that they would soon run short of cash to pay all the nation’s bills, Republicans started loudly insisting they would not vote to help Democrats raise the ceiling since they were being excluded from meaningful participation in any of President Biden’s major spending initiatives.

Democrats complained that Republicans had just as much of a responsibility to lift the ceiling since much of the new debt was incurred under the Trump administration. But the GOP didn’t budge, reminding Democrats they had enough votes on their own, even in the 50-50 Senate where they could use the reconciliation process to get around the need for 60 votes.

Days before a possible default at the end of September, Senate GOP leadership agreed to a short-term compromise that punted the issue to mid-December.

Last week, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced they had reached another deal, this one creating a one-time path for Democrats to lift the debt ceiling with a simple majority while avoiding what is typically a very time-consuming process of reconciliation. Democrats did have to agree, however, to put a specific number on the debt increase, which they did today.