The Senate on Thursday passed a continuing stand-alone resolution aimed at avoiding a government shutdown that would keep the government funded until December.
The House should easily pass the measure later, before the current funding expires at midnight. The interim bill includes a provision to maintain government funding until Dec. 3 – in addition to funding to help fund disaster relief and resettle Afghan refugees.
Its passage comes after Senate Republicans blocked a short-term spending bill passed by the House that included language to increase the debt limit, saying they would not support increasing the debt limit. federal government borrowing because Democrats were larger. expense bill. .
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) praised the bill, saying he believed it was important to keep government open, but criticized his GOP allies for support an increase in the federal government’s borrowing limit. Took a hit for his pushback.
“It’s a great result, I’m happy we’re working. There’s a lot going on here in Washington, the last thing the American people need is to shut down the government. But, of course, we need more Just as our Republican allies realize that a government shutdown would be disastrous, they should realize that a national debt default would be even worse.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Praised the clean law, reiterating his claim that Republicans will not help Democrats raise the debt ceiling.
“On government funding, what the Republicans put in place was a clean, lasting resolution without the poison pill of raising the debt ceiling. This is exactly what we are going to adopt today. Earlier this week, the Democratic leader made it through the partisan jam. Now the government will be funded as we have determined. This is the first step. The next step will come two, the debt limit, ”he said on the floor before the vote.
“We clearly have a way forward there too. As I have explained since last July, Democrats must launch a fast-track process to tackle this problem through conciliation. The majority’s clumsy attempts at partisan jam will not change this reality. It didn’t work on government funding, and it wouldn’t work on debt limits. They would only waste precious time. I hope this reality will begin to reflect on our allies. “
Top Democrats are weighing their options to tackle the debt ceiling, with leading economists and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warning that loan default would have “catastrophic” effects on the economy and financial markets.
Yellen told Congress that existing resources would be exhausted by October 18.
.
