The decision by Senate Democrats to punt on the debt ceiling issue came as White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden administration would prefer to avoid a short-term measure. “We don’t need to kick the can. We don’t need to go through a cumbersome process,” Psaki said, although she did not rule out agreeing to such a deal as an alternative to default.
Sen. Christopher S. Murphy, D-Conn., who hours earlier had dismissed McConnell’s offer as a “terrible idea,” said using reconciliation to raise the debt limit would set a “horrendous” precedent.
“You have to hope that the debt ceiling comes up at a moment when you have a reconciliation available,” Murphy said, pointing to the limited times that the process can be used under budget law. “The bottom line is Republicans knew they were going to get blamed for this if they didn’t come to the table with a proposal that at least gets us to December. Hopefully, in December, they’ll realize that doing this three months at a time is not in their interest.”
But a short-term debt limit fix, the details of which were still being negotiated, could nonetheless calm jittery financial markets and de-escalate a political crisis in Washington. The government would be unable to pay all its bills after Oct. 18 unless the statutory debt ceiling is lifted, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen has warned.
Democrats had been pushing legislation that would suspend the debt limit through Dec. 16, 2022. But McConnell’s offer called for raising the debt limit in the short term by a specific dollar amount, which Senate Finance ranking member Michael D. Crapo, R-Idaho, said could be about $300 billion.
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October 07, 2021 at 10:33AM
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Democrats, Republicans agree to short-term debt limit increase - Roll Call
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