Senators under time pressure to pass debt ceiling bill
Senators are facing time pressure Thursday as they pick up the debt ceiling bill that passed the House last night.
Chuck Schumer, the Democratic senate majority leader, was at his desk preparing its pathway soon after Wednesday’s 314-117 bipartisan House vote, and is warning any potential troublemakers to stand aside in order to get the measure approved swiftly and on to Joe Biden’s desk for signature to avoid a national default.
He told chamber colleagues on Wednesday:
Any needless delay, any last-minute brinkmanship at this point would be an unacceptable risk.
Moving quickly, working together to avoid default is the responsible and necessary thing to do.
In the House, McCarthy staved off a potential revolt by Republican colleagues to get the bill passed. In the senate, however, it’s Democrats who could yet throw a spanner in the works.
Progressives including Vermont’s Bernie Sanders, have indicated they plan to oppose the debt ceiling proposal, but the bill still appears likely to become law, my colleague Joan E Greve reports.
Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat and frequent thorn in Biden’s side during the early months of his administration, was another potential holdout. But he appears to have been appeased by a provision in the deal speeding up a controversial gas pipeline.
With senate Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell indicating he plans to support the proposal, and encourage colleagues to do so, it probably won’t matter if a small number of Democrats do decide to withhold their backing.
Treasury secretary Janet Yellen says the US will run out of money next week, meaning Biden must sign the bill raising the debt ceiling by Monday to keep paying the bills. Schumer says he wants it out of the chamber by tomorrow night.
Here’s a quick explainer of what to expect next, courtesy of ABC News.
Read more on the “dirty” pipeline deal:
Key events
The race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination is about to get even more crowded. Mike Pence, the former vice-president, and ex-New Jersey governor Chris Christie are both planning to launch their campaigns next week.
Pence is, of course, the man supporters of Donald Trump infamously wanted to hang during the January 6 riots when they overran the US Capitol attempting to keep the former president in office. Trump has said “maybe they were right” to do so.
Pence will announce his candidacy in Des Moines, Iowa, on 7 June, also his 64th birthday, two sources told the Associated Press.
He is also expected to release a video message that morning as part of the launch that, interestingly, is taking place in an early voting state rather than his home state of Indiana.
Christie, a former Trump advisor turned vocal critic, is set to launch his run the day before, as we reported yesterday. It will be the 60-year-old’s second attempt to win the nomination.
Trump, who is campaigning in Iowa today, dominates Republican primary polling, leading his closest challenger, the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, by more than 30 points in most polling averages.
DeSantis, who has also been in Iowa in recent days, announced his candidacy in a glitch-filled livestream event on Twitter last week.
Joe Biden’s status as “an apostle of bipartisanship” has been well and truly enhanced by the passage of the debt ceiling bill in the House, argues the Guardian’s Washington bureau chief David Smith in his analysis of this week’s developments.
The president, Smith says, can “claim vindication for the underlying theory of his presidency: that in the age of polarisation it takes an apostle of bipartisanship and a 36-year veteran of the Senate to reach across the aisle and make deals with his opponents”.
The bill that passed the House, he says, “could hardly have been more Bidenesque in hitting the sweet spot between left and right… Biden continues to exceed low expectations by finding common ground in the disappearing middle”.
Read the story:
Late-night votes, Republican holdouts, warnings from the US treasury about an impending national default, and games of brinkmanship between the White House and politicians from both parties in Washington DC haven’t exactly made developments in the debt ceiling story easy to follow.
What’s in the bill? What’s out? And who’s said what about whether they’re voting for or against it, and why?
Thankfully, we’ve got you. Here’s out handy explainer, with key takeaways, from the debt ceiling bill as it heads to the senate for approval:
Senators under time pressure to pass debt ceiling bill
Senators are facing time pressure Thursday as they pick up the debt ceiling bill that passed the House last night.
Chuck Schumer, the Democratic senate majority leader, was at his desk preparing its pathway soon after Wednesday’s 314-117 bipartisan House vote, and is warning any potential troublemakers to stand aside in order to get the measure approved swiftly and on to Joe Biden’s desk for signature to avoid a national default.
He told chamber colleagues on Wednesday:
Any needless delay, any last-minute brinkmanship at this point would be an unacceptable risk.
Moving quickly, working together to avoid default is the responsible and necessary thing to do.
In the House, McCarthy staved off a potential revolt by Republican colleagues to get the bill passed. In the senate, however, it’s Democrats who could yet throw a spanner in the works.
Progressives including Vermont’s Bernie Sanders, have indicated they plan to oppose the debt ceiling proposal, but the bill still appears likely to become law, my colleague Joan E Greve reports.
Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat and frequent thorn in Biden’s side during the early months of his administration, was another potential holdout. But he appears to have been appeased by a provision in the deal speeding up a controversial gas pipeline.
With senate Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell indicating he plans to support the proposal, and encourage colleagues to do so, it probably won’t matter if a small number of Democrats do decide to withhold their backing.
Treasury secretary Janet Yellen says the US will run out of money next week, meaning Biden must sign the bill raising the debt ceiling by Monday to keep paying the bills. Schumer says he wants it out of the chamber by tomorrow night.
Here’s a quick explainer of what to expect next, courtesy of ABC News.
Read more on the “dirty” pipeline deal:
Good morning US politics blog readers. Thursday’s going to be a busy day: The debt ceiling bill that passed the House on a bipartisan vote last night heads for the Senate, where it faces time pressure to get it approved and on to Joe Biden’s desk for signature to avoid a national default.
Republicans and the White House are both claiming Wednesday night’s 314-117 vote as a victory, to a degree. “This budget agreement is a bipartisan compromise. Neither side got everything it wanted,” the president said.
Kevin McCarthy, the Republican speaker, was exuberant after staving off a revolt by rightwing colleagues. “I wanted to do something no other Congress has done. Tonight, we all made history,” he said.
You can read my colleague Joan E Greve’s report, including what happens next, here.
Here’s what else we’re watching today:
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It’s potentially a huge day in the supreme court, where opinions on one or more cases of huge consequence to the nation could come as early as 10am. Justices have heard arguments covering affirmative action, LGBTQ+ equality and the future of Native American tribes. We’ll bring you the latest as the decision(s) come down.
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We have details on the months of distrust inside Donald Trump’s legal team that threatens the former president’s defense against allegations he illegally stored classified material at his Florida home.
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Challengers to Trump for the Republican party’s 2024 presidential nomination are coming thick and fast with reports that former vice president Mike Pence and the former New Jersey governor (and fierce Trump critic) Chris Christie are poised to enter the race next week.
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Joe Biden is in Colorado, where he is scheduled to deliver the commencement address at the US air force academy later this morning.
