Treasury Secretary warns October 18 is the deadline.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said in a letter to colleagues Monday that legislators must act to increase the federal government’s borrowing limit by the end of the week to avoid any repercussions.
“Let me be clear about the task ahead of us: we must get a bill to the president’s desk dealing with the debt limit by the end of the week. Period,” Senator Schumer stated.
His timeline cuts in half the roughly two weeks that Congress has to raise the nation’s borrowing limit. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen previously warned congressional leaders that they needed to act by October 18 or risk a historic default with broad economic consequences.
Senator Schumer said that Congress could not afford to go down to the wire. He wrote, “We do not have the luxury of waiting until October 18th, as it is our responsibility to reassure the world that the United States meets our obligations in a timely fashion and that the full faith and credit of the United States should never be in question. The consequences of even approaching the X-date could be disastrous for our economy and devastating to American families.”
Senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said he will not help raise the debt ceiling and told President Biden he should convince members of Congress from his party to raise the debt ceiling along party lines. Senator McConnell stated that majority leaders have been told since mid-July that they “will need to raise the debt limit on their own.” He continued that they have instead “chosen to pursue staggering, ‘transformational’ spending through unprecedented use of the party-line reconciliation process.”
He added that the president’s party “majorities have no plan of their own to avoid default… I respectfully submit that it is time for you to engage directly with [them] on this matter.”
President Biden responded, “What they’re doing today is so reckless and dangerous in my opinion. The United States is a nation that pays its bills and always has. Raising the debt limit is about paying off our old debt. It has nothing to do with new spending being considered.”
“Bipartisanship is not a light switch that Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer may flip on to borrow money and flip off to spend it,” Senator McConnell replied. “We have no list of demands. For two and a half months, we have simply warned that since your party wishes to govern alone, it must handle the debt limit alone as well.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For Senator Schumer to seek God’s discernment as he works on federal budget issues.
- For members of Congress as they consider raising the debt ceiling.
- For public officials as they evaluate expanding the national debt and the new spending policies that would increase it.
Sources: Wall Street Journal, The Hill, Reuters, Fox News
