Senate to take up bill, Schumer seeks to fast-track vote

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will try to fast-track a bill in the chamber on Thursday to raise the debt ceiling for two years and limit government spending as the U.S. ends its June 5 deadline. due before the due date to avoid default on the debt.

“The Senate will continue to sit until we bring the bill to avoid default to President Biden’s desk, and we will continue to work until the job is done,” Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor at the opening of Thursday’s session. “If we want to prevent default, time is a luxury the Senate doesn’t have.”

The fiscal responsibility bill passed with an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives late Wednesday night and sent it to the Democratic-controlled Senate, which meets Thursday and is scheduled to consider the bill.

All 100 senators must agree to the plan and “unanimously agree” to bypass the Senate’s notoriously slow process in order for the bill to pass quickly and vote before Monday.

Here’s the challenge: At least three senators, Utah Republican Mike Lee, Kentucky Republican Rand Paul and Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine, have said they seriously oppose specific parts of the bill.

On Thursday, Kane introduced amendment That would strip the House bill of a last-minute provision that all but guarantees approval of the Valley Pipeline, a controversial natural gas pipeline project through West Virginia and Virginia.

Lee also proposed amendmentRemove a provision in the House bill that would allow the director of the Office of Management and Budget to unilaterally waive some spending limits on federal regulators if they determine that spending is necessary for “effective program delivery.”

In a typical Senate process, these members would be expected to slow down the Senate’s consideration of the bill, propose their amendments, attempt to pass those amendments by vote and add them to the bill, and if they succeed, send the amended The bill returns to the House for another vote.

But with just days to go before the June 5 deadline set by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen when the U.S. may not be able to meet its debt obligations, Schumer made it clear on Wednesday that the bill cannot be rolled back.

“We can’t send anything back to the House,” he told reporters at the Capitol. “That would be at risk of default, plain and simple.”

If the Treasury Department fails to meet its obligations, economists agree, it could send global markets into turmoil, spark U.S. job losses and jeopardize the provision of vital government benefits on which tens of millions of Americans depend.

So what’s the solution? As Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell explained Wednesday, senators who want to introduce amendments will be allowed to do so as long as they are doomed.

In exchange for a separate vote on their amendment, McConnell wants opponents to agree to give the Senate a full vote on the debt ceiling bill by the weekend.

McConnell told reporters at the Capitol on Wednesday: “I can tell you what I want to happen is that those who have the amendment, if they get the vote, will give in so that we can get it done this Thursday or Friday. .”

On Wednesday, Kaine, Paul and Lee gave little indication of whether they were willing to accept such an arrangement, but their Senate colleagues, the congressional press corps and global markets were anxiously awaiting any sign of a compromise deal with Schumer.

McConnell said passing the debt ceiling compromise and sending it to President Biden for his signature would “pacify the country and calm the markets.”

this Fiscal Responsibility Act It was the result of a deal between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Biden that essentially gave conservatives multiple ideological policy victories in exchange for their vote to raise the debt ceiling after next year’s presidential election and in 2025.

The bill passed the House of Representatives with 314 votes in favor and 117 against, with Democrats outnumbering Republicans.

This is a developing story. Please check for updates.