Congress Temporarily Avoids Debt Ceiling Crisis and Moves Forward on Reconciliation

Last week, Congress struck a deal to pass a temporary debt ceiling increase and avoid a fiscal crisis. Senate Republicans initially said they would block a bill passed in the House to raise the debt ceiling, but on Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell agreed to support a bill to temporarily raise the debt ceiling until December. The Senate voted to pass that temporary debt limit extension on Thursday, sending it to the House, which is expected to pass the bill this week. By temporarily extending the debt limit, Congress has avoided the fiscal crisis that would have been triggered if the US defaulted on its debt by failing to raise the ceiling by October 18. 

With the debt ceiling crisis punted for a few more months, Congress is now returning its attention to finalizing the budget reconciliation bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have set a deadline of October 31 to pass both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the budget reconciliation bill. ANCOR will continue to monitor these developments and provide updates to members.