Global Courant
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday night voted in favor of a bill that would extend the debt ceiling by two years and create a two-year budget deal based on a broad bipartisan vote.
The vote was 63-36.
Having already passed the House on Wednesday, it now goes to President Joe Biden, who is expected to sign it and stave off an economically catastrophic debt burden with just days left before Monday’s deadline.
The deal was brokered by Biden, a Democrat, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, after a protracted stalemate and a frenzied few weeks of negotiations as the US approached the abyss. Biden will address the nation on the bill Friday at 7 p.m. ET.
“America can breathe a sigh of relief. Because we’re avoiding default in this process,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y. “The consequences of default would be catastrophic.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., defended the bill as “an urgent and important step in the right direction — for the health of our economy and the future of our country.”
The final Senate vote came after 11 amendments were considered — a demand from several senators in exchange for agreeing to quickly vote on the bill; all amendments were shot. That agreement allowed the Senate to skip a series of hurdles that, without unanimous consent, could have pushed the US past the debt ceiling deadline on Monday. Senators also wanted to leave town for a long weekend to expedite procedural talks.
Debt ceiling extension does not allow new spending; it allows the US to pay off existing debts that both sides have accumulated over many years through higher spending on domestic and military programs and lower taxes.
Once signed into law, the bill will limit spending for the next two years with a modest cut in non-military spending and a modest expansion in defense spending. It includes conservative measures to reclaim about $28 billion in unused Covid resources, eliminate $1.4 billion in IRS funding, and review the energy project permitting process.
The bill will resume federal student loan payments after a long “pause” that began early in the pandemic. And it would impose employment requirements for people up to age 55 to receive benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF; currently there are work requirements for recipients up to 50 years old. The SNAP and TANF amendments include carve-outs for veterans, the homeless, and adults up to age 24 who age out of foster care.
The Biden-McCarthy agreement would not make changes to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid.
Schumer celebrated the bill as a Democratic victory Thursday night, noting that more Democrats than Republicans supported the bill in both chambers.
“I thank my colleagues for a job well done tonight,” Schumer said. “I commend President Biden and his team for reaching a sensible compromise under the most difficult circumstances. So many destructive provisions in the Republican bill have disappeared.”
McConnell praised McCarthy in a statement for acting first and passing a bill that “avoids the catastrophic consequences of default and begins to curb Washington Democrats’ addiction to reckless spending that inflates our nation’s debt.”
Liz Brown-Kaiser and Kate Santaliz contributed.
