Xinhua News
Oct 1, 20213 min
"This week in the Senate proved that clumsy partisan jams will not work," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Twitter Thursday afternoon.
"We were able to avoid a shutdown because the Democratic majority accepted reality and listened to what Republicans have consistently said for months. Now they will need to do the same thing on the debt limit," said the Republican leader.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday lashed out at Republicans over the debt limit issue. "Republicans - and because of all of the consequences that would happen if we did not lift the debt ceiling - Republicans refusal to support a suspension of the debt ceiling now, is cynical, hypocritical and downright dangerous," she said in a statement.
Democrats have the option to raise the debt limit on their own using a process known as budget reconciliation, which only requires a simple majority in the Senate to pass legislation, but they have argued it's too risky.
With the stopgap funding bill approved and shutdown temporarily avoided, Democrats, will need to act quickly in the coming days on the debt limit, as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently warned that lawmakers have until Oct. 18 to raise or suspend the debt limit before the United States is expected to default on the national debt.
Yellen noted that Congress should not wait until the last minute to raise the debt limit as estimates regarding how long the remaining extraordinary measures and cash may last can "unpredictably shift forward."
Meanwhile, as Democrats try to pass a 3.5-trillion-U.S.-dollar spending package, a sweeping social spending bill that forms the core of Biden's domestic agenda, they are facing hurdles from Republicans as well as members of their own party.
Republicans want a much smaller package, while progressive Democrats have threatened to sink any such legislation. Democrats want to raise taxes on corporations and higher earners to offset the cost, but Republicans argued that it would lead to job loss and slower economic growth.
With the Senate split 50-50, Democrats must keep moderates -- who could oppose elements of the agenda -- on their side, allowing Vice President Kamala Harris to cast the deciding vote.
Some moderate Democrats, including Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, have raised concerns about the potential cost of the package and the tax hikes proposed to pay for it, which has been a source of contention within the party.
Liberal Democrats, who have been particularly frustrated with Manchin and Sinema, said they plan to block the bipartisan infrastructure bill in an attempt to maintain leverage with party centrists on the cost and scope of the massive social spending package.
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