R&I – FS
Senate Democrats are trying a fresh attempt to stave off a potential debt default with a Wednesday afternoon vote meant to pressure Republicans into dropping their blockage of legislation to address the nation’s borrowing limit.
Senate leaders scheduled a procedural vote on a bill to suspend the debt limit through December 2022. The legislation already passed the House, but it needs 60 votes to pass to overcome a filibuster in the Senate. Republicans have repeatedly promised to block it.
Failure to suspend the debt ceiling would be a major blow to lawmakers concerned about preventing the first default in American history.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have been in a months-long standoff over which party is responsible for the nation’s debt and every detail of how it should be addressed.
Democrats and Republicans are now entrenched in a battle over the exact process for addressing the borrowing limit, leaving the two sides bitterly divided on a way forward.
Schumer has blamed McConnell for forcing the standoff.
Continued
Carl Sagan
Article URL : https://www.npr.org/2021/10/06/1043665471/as-the-threat-of-default-grows-the-senate-faces-another-debt-ceiling-vote