House Approves Bill to Avert U.S. Default, Sending It to Biden
Source: New York Times
WASHINGTON — The House gave final approval on Tuesday to legislation that would raise the debt ceiling into early December, postponing the threat of a first-ever federal default even as Republicans vow to reimpose their blockade on a longer-term solution. The vote was 219 to 206 to pass the bill, clearing it for President Biden, who was expected to swiftly sign it only days before the Oct. 18 date by which the government is set to breach the statutory borrowing limit and be unable to meet its obligations.
The legislation lifts the debt ceiling by $480 billion, which the Treasury Department has estimated is enough to last until at least Dec. 3, setting up yet another deadline for Congress to break its logjam over the issue. The temporary extension was necessary because Republicans had blocked Democrats’ legislation to provide a longer-term increase, demanding that they do so through a complex and time-consuming budget maneuver instead of through normal channels. Last week, a handful of Senate Republicans temporarily dropped their party’s monthslong obstruction to a debt limit measure and voted to break a filibuster of the short-term bill, allowing it to come to a vote in that chamber.
But Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, has since warned President Biden that his party would not break ranks again. On Tuesday, every House Republican voted against raising the debt ceiling even for a matter of weeks, as Democrats pleaded for bipartisan support. “What do you have against our own economy, where this catastrophe of unbelievable proportions could have impacts for over 100 years?” Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said, addressing Republicans before the vote. “Don’t you care about that?” It is not unusual for members of the party out of power to oppose raising the debt limit, a vote that can expose lawmakers to charges of enabling profligate federal spending.
But this year, Republicans have taken the obstruction to new heights, actively preventing Democrats from even bringing such legislation to a vote under normal procedures. Democrats pushed through the increase on Tuesday as part of a procedural move to set up future votes on three additional pieces of legislation, including one to expand breastfeeding accommodations at work, a bill to ensure older Americans are not excluded from the workplace, and another to strengthen protections and services for survivors of domestic and family violence. The maneuver spared Democrats from taking a distinct vote to raise the debt ceiling, which Republicans further criticized on the House floor.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/12/us/politics/debt-ceiling-house.html
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