U.S. Senate Republicans for a second day in a row blocked a bid by President Joe Biden's Democrats to head off a potentially crippling U.S. credit default, as partisan tensions rattled an economy recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
With federal government funding due to expire on Thursday and borrowing authority set to run out around Oct. 18, Democrats who narrowly control the Senate and House of Representatives are working to head off twin fiscal disasters while also trying to advance Biden's ambitious legislative agenda.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has insisted that Democrats use a parliamentary maneuver to temporarily lift the government's $28.4 trillion debt limit without Republican votes, although Democrats note that about $5 trillion of the nation's debt is the result of tax cuts and spending passed during Republican Donald Trump's presidency.
Democrats in U.S. Congress preparing measure to avert shutdown-two senators
Democrats in the U.S. Congress are preparing to advance a measure on Wednesday to continue funding the federal government and avert a shutdown, Senators Debbie Stabenow and Chris Coons told reporters on Tuesday.
Biden pushes for action on infrastructure and broader agenda
U.S. President Joe Biden and his top aides on Tuesday pushed members of his own party to fund not just infrastructure but his broader agenda as talks over bills for both intensified.
Biden met privately with lawmakers, including conservative Democratic Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, who have balked at the size of the spending packages under consideration.
Those meetings at the White House came as Congress wrestled over a $1 trillion roads, bridges and pipes bill that has drawn support from some Democrats and Republicans, as well as separate legislation making $3.5 trillion of investments in childcare, healthcare and housing.
Reference: CNBC, Reuters
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