Update: Both sides claimed victory Wednesday after Democratic senators agreed to accept Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's offer of a short-term deal on raising the debt limit, Politico reports. After a closed-door caucus meeting, Senate Democrats said they were prepared to accept the Republican's offer of an emergency extension until December. A vote could come as soon as Wednesday evening. But while a debt default—and a potential financial crisis—may have been averted for now, the standoff is likely to return in December, the AP reports. Democrats insist that they won't resort to the budget reconciliation process to raise the limit, while McConnell says Republicans won't give them other options. Our story from earlier today follows:
S enate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has offered Democrats a way to avoid a potentially disastrous default on America's debt—but it's not clear whether they will accept the Republican's short-term offer. McConnell said in a press release Wednesday that to end the standoff over raising the debt limit, he will "allow Democrats to use normal procedures to pass an emergency debt limit extension at a fixed dollar amount to cover current spending levels into December." Senate Democrats delayed a vote to discuss the offer, and opinions were split, the Hill reports. Sen. Mazie Hirono described it as BS while Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who votes with Democrats, called it a "step forward."
McConnell said the offer would give Democrats "more than enough time to pass standalone debt limit legislation through reconciliation." White House press secretary Jen Psaki, however, suggested Democrats would not welcome a deal without a longer-term solution, the Washington Post reports. "We could get this done today. We don’t need to kick the can," she said. "We don’t need to go through a cumbersome process that every day brings additional risks."
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The Treasury Department has warned that it will run out of funds to service existing debt if Congress doesn't act before the Oct. 18 deadline. President Biden said Tuesday night that changing the filibuster rules to deal with the issue "is a real possibility." At a White House event Wednesday, the president enlisted business leaders including the heads of Citi, JP Morgan Chase, and Nasdaq to push for immediate suspension of the debt ceiling, the AP reports. "It’s not right and it’s dangerous," Biden said of GOP efforts to block a vote on raising the limit. (More debt limit stories.)
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