Schumer seeks to fast-track raising the debt ceiling
Unanimous consent would allow Democrats to raise debt ceiling with 50 votes
Debt ceiling debate is ‘game of chicken’: Expert
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget President Maya MacGuineas discusses the issues that come with the debate over the debt ceiling, from financial uncertainty to a loss of credibility for the U.S.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says Democrats are prepared to raise the debt ceiling on their own if they can do so with a simple majority.
Schumer will later this afternoon ask the Senate for unanimous consent to allow the debt limit to be increased with a 50-vote majority rather than 60 votes that are currently needed. Vice President Kamala Harris would cast a vote of approval in the event of a tie.
Unanimous consent would prevent Democrats from having to amend the budget resolution to include a debt ceiling increase.
US DEBT LIMIT COULD BE REACHED IN MID-OCTOBER, ANALYSIS SHOWS
"So if Republicans want to abscond from their responsibilities — not vote to pay the debt they incurred — so be it," Schumer said. "That's a bad thing, that's a bad precedent. But this is the way out."
Schumer says using unanimous consent would be the same process Republicans used in 2006 to raise the debt ceiling with a simple majority.
Representatives Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told FOX Business the minority leader could address the issue later Tuesday.
Schumer’s comments come just after a testy exchange during a Senate Banking Committee hearing between Republican Sen. Joe Kennedy of Louisiana and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
Kennedy asked Yellen why Democrats do not use budget reconciliation to raise the debt limit on their own.
Yellen said raising the debt ceiling is a "shared responsibility" and that Democrats have in the past voted for an increase when Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress and were in the reconciliation process.
The U.S. government is on track to run out of money sometime between Oct. 15 and Nov. 4 if the debt ceiling is not raised.
The U.S. has never defaulted on its debt. Although, a 2011 debt ceiling fight resulted in the rating agency Standard and Poor's downgrading the U.S.’ debt rating one notch.
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Failing to raise the debt ceiling would eventually lead to the U.S. defaulting on its obligations, which could cause a sharp increase in interest rates and adversely impact the economy.
Yellen said it would be "catastrophic" for Congress not to raise the debt ceiling.