That would have the effect of letting Republicans avoid voting for a debt limit increase ahead of next year’s congressional elections. After the House vote, McConnell and fellow Republican Senator Richard Shelby said they had introduced a bill to fund current government operations through Dec. 3, but without raising the debt limit. Democrats have resisted doing that so far, saying the vote to raise the debt limit should be a bipartisan one. The Treasury Department will some time in October exhaust its borrowing authority unless the debt limit is raised. Republicans said they would support a temporary spending bill to avert a shutdown if the debt limit extension were stripped out of the bill.

Source: MetroXpress September 21, 2021 17:16 UTC