Poli Alert Political & Civics
Related Articles
On Tuesday, Congress voted to raise the national debt limit by $2.5 trillion and extend it into 2023, narrowly avoiding a midweek deadline that would have sent the United States into default.
The House approved the measure by a 221-209 party-line vote to raise the federal government’s debt limit to roughly 31 trillion dollars, hours after the Senate passed the legislation on their own party-line 50-49 vote on Tuesday.
Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger was the only Republican in either chamber to vote for the increase.
The legislation now heads to President Joe Biden, who is expected to sign it quickly to ensure the nation doesn’t default on its debts.
“The legislation will raise the debt limit to a level commensurate with funding necessary to get into 2023,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday.
“This is about paying debt accumulated by both parties, Democrats and Republicans. So, I’m pleased both parties came together to facilitate a process that is made addressing the debt possible,” Schumer said.
The vote came after Schumer and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell last week struck a deal to allow Democrats to raise the debt limit through simple-majority votes in the 100-member Senate, rather than the 60-vote filibuster threshold.
Republicans previously refused to support Democrats’ efforts to raise the debt ceiling, arguing that Democrats should deal with the crisis on their own since they control both chambers of Congress and the White House, while complaining about Democrats’ lack of bipartisanship in crafting major spending bills.
Democrats, however, correctly noted that raising the debt limit does not authorize new federal spending, but only allows the Department of the Treasury to borrow additional funds to cover expenditures that Congress has already approved, including COVID-19 relief bills and the tax cuts rolled out during the administration of former President Donald Trump.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had urged Congress to raise the debt limit by December 15 to avoid a potential default. “I cannot overstate how critical it is that Congress address this issue. America must pay its bills on time and in full. If we do not, we will eviscerate our current recovery,” Yellen said recently before the Senate Banking Committee.
The debt limit, commonly called the debt ceiling, is the total amount of money that the U.S. government is authorized to borrow to meet its existing legal obligations, including social security and medicare benefits, interest on the national debt, and other payments.
