Schumer announces deal to fast-track debt ceiling bill’s passage
David Sivak
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Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has locked in a time agreement for a bill to raise the debt ceiling, the majority leader announced, clearing the way for it to pass the Senate on Thursday night.
Democratic leadership, working with their Republican counterparts, have agreed to hold a series of amendment votes before final passage, a concession necessary to speed up consideration of the bill.
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The Senate has until Monday to avoid a possible default, a time crunch complicated by the chamber operating by unanimous consent. Any single senator can hold up the bill, which passed the House in a blowout vote on Wednesday.
That forced Schumer to consider roughly 30 amendments, a list he whittled down to 11 over the course of Thursday. Nearly all were submitted by Republicans upset with the deal Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) brokered with President Joe Biden, in particular its modest spending cuts and anemic funding for defense.
One Democrat, Sen. Tim Kaine (VA), will also receive an amendment vote to strip the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which cuts through his state, from the bill.
Most will be considered at a 60-vote threshold, while a few will only require a simple majority.
Schumer announced the amendment votes from the Senate floor, also entering in the record a joint statement from him and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), presumably a commitment for a supplemental aid package for Ukraine, a demand of defense hawks such as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
“For all the ups and downs and twists and turns it took to get here, it is so good for this country that both parties have come together at last to avoid default,” Schumer said. “I thank my colleagues, both sides of the aisle, for their cooperation.”
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, separately demanded that the Senate bring all 12 appropriations bills to the floor this year.
The second request is meant to minimize the risk of a 1% across-the-board cut Biden agreed to that takes effect if even a single appropriations bill doesn’t pass Congress.
None of the amendments are expected to pass — if they did, it would force the House to consider the debt ceiling bill once again, pushing the country past the Monday “X-date,” when the Treasury Department has said it will be unable to pay all its bills.
“I mean, the odds are against us because there are enough people who really, really, really want this bill to pass,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), whose amendment would prevent Biden from ignoring regulatory reforms in the bill, told reporters. “And very often what happens is they circle the wagons and people who might otherwise be inclined to vote for some of the amendments, vote against them, saying, ‘Oh, it’s a poison bill, we can’t do that.'”
Nonetheless, senators view the amendments as a way to put their colleagues on the record.
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The Senate is expected to pass the debt ceiling bill, a bipartisan compromise to avoid default, with ease, though a coalition of progressives, defense hawks, and fiscal conservatives will oppose it.
The legislation overwhelmingly passed the House in a 314-117 vote.