Schumer: Senate Stays in Session Until Debt Bill Passes

The Senate is ready to take up the House bill suspending the nation's debt limit until Jan. 1, 2025, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer promising Thursday that the chamber will "stay in session until we send a bill avoiding default to President Biden's desk."

"We will keep working until the job is done," the New York Republican said Thursday, reported NBC News. "There is no good reason to bring this process down to the wire."

The House overwhelmingly passed Fiscal Responsibility Act on Wednesday by a vote of 314-117, with 149 Republicans and 165 Democrats voting to approve it.  

However, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in the Senate are pushing for amendments to the bill, which could delay the measure, reported Spectrum News.  

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., on Thursday introduced an amendment calling to strip a provision backed by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to fund the Mountain Valley Pipeline as part of the debt ceiling legislation. 

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, promised amendments to the House bill.

Schumer noted that adding such amendments would require the bill to be sent back to the House, and said that would not be acceptable.

However, he called the House vote a "resounding affirmation of bipartisanship, which I hope bodes well for quick movement here in the Senate."

The deadline to pass the bill is on Monday, the date Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said the government could go into default. 

"Time is a luxury the Senate does not have if we want to prevent default," Schumer said. 

There are also lawmakers on both sides who have said they won't vote for the bill, including Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; Rick Scott, R-Fla.; Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Ted Budd, R-N.C., and Tim Scott, R-S.C. 

"Throughout this process, I have said that we should only raise the debt ceiling if we fix Washington's spending addiction," Budd in a statement Thursday, reported The Charlotte Observer. "Unfortunately, this bill fails to do that."

Budd said "the bill normalizes pandemic-era spending levels, greenlights trillions more, and retains the vast majority of President Biden's IRS expansion. While I respect Speaker [Kevin] McCarthy's efforts to force President Biden to the negotiating table, this final product does not fundamentally alter our country's disastrous fiscal path."

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