House Passes Bill To Prevent Government Shutdown & Suspend Debt Ceiling

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would both keep the government running and suspend the borrowing cap for another year, though it will face another challenge in the Senate.

The lawmakers passed the bill in a 220-211 vote will all Democrats and no Republicans voting for it.

“The House will not allow the United States government to default on its obligations for the first time in American history,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York), the House Democratic Caucus chairman. “It is our hope that Senate Republicans will also do the right thing and stop playing politics around the debt limit.”

As the legislation now moves to the Senate, Republicans are poised to block it with a possible government shutdown looming that could result in serious economic consequences for the country.

In order to prevent a shutdown, Congress must pass the bill by the end of this month.

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) has stated Republicans would approve a spending plan covering basic government funding but not if the proposal includes the debt limit, which House passed Tuesday.

“We do not have divided government. Democrats do not need our help,” McConnell said in a statement Monday. “They have every tool to address the debt limit on their own: the same party-line process they used to ram through inflationary spending in March and already plan to use again this fall.”

Despite McConnell’s warning, Democrats are ready to fight for the bill.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) argued that both parties should take responsibility for the debt already been made by the federal government.

“The Republicans are doing a dine-and-dash of historic proportions that hurts the American people and hurts our country,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Monday. “In the immediate future, both parties will have to come together to allow the federal government to continue its most important responsibility: paying the bills and making good on our outstanding obligations.”

Schumer further claimed that the debt itself came from the previous administration. “It is Trump debt, not Democratic debt,” he added.

The spending bill, the $3.5 trillion plan that includes the core of President Joe Biden’s agenda, would make massive investments in the social and climate policy. Republicans want the debt limit added to the sweeping bill, which Democrats plan to pay off through raising taxes on corporations and the rich.