Praying for Republicans to fold was a quite riskier play for Democrats that has given the stakes. In case, for the first time, the US government fails to meet its obligations, its role in the world’s economy would be called into question. Interest rates would most likely surge quite sharply.
The global financial instructions would start to search for new vehicles to store money. There it would not be subject to the whims of partisan politics. Hence the US Senate is staving off its debt crisis up to December.
“We’re not asking them to blink; we’re asking them to be the slightest bit reasonable,” Senator Angus King, a centrist independent from Maine, said of Republican leaders. “The political gain of this strikes me as low. The loss to the country strikes me as extraordinarily high.”
The debt ceiling, or the debt limit, is a cap for the total amount of money that the federal government has authorized to borrow with US treasury Bills and savings bonds. It would help them to fulfill their financial obligations. The US runs budget deficits. It must borrow a huge sum of money to pay its bills.
The US hit its debt ceiling at the end of July. Treasury Secretary Jennet Yellen has been using her measures since then to delay a default. She has warned of catastrophic consequences if the debt limit has not been raised for a default.
Ms. Yellen said that inaction could lead to self-inflicted economic recession and debt crisis. She further said that failing to raise the debt ceiling can’t affect programs that help Americans. Also, it will delay Social Security payments.
According to the Constitution, Congress must authorize its borrowing. The country instituted the debt limit in the 20th century, so the Treasury did not need to ask for permission to issue bonds.
Republicans have said that Democrats must supply all the votes to raise its debt ceiling. But they have flustered their attempts to do it. Senate Democrats have increasingly seen the G.O.P blockade as a clear justification for the changing of the filibuster rule.
Top Democrats have dropped their insistence that republicans must join them in bipartisan support to raise the statutory cap on the obligation. They want Mr. McConnell to honor his demand to let the Democrats lift the ceiling alone.
“We’ve already presented Republicans numerous opportunities to do what they say they want, including by offering a simple majority vote so Democrats can suspend the debt ceiling on our own as Republicans have asked,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, said on Wednesday. “But each time, Republicans have chosen obstruction.”
Top Republicans said that most of their members would privately support the Democrats to move forward on their own. However, they are unwilling to vote publicly, and any single senator can force a vote.