RE:Debt ceiling :
Explainer-What are Congress' options for funding the gov't and raising the debt limit? (msn.com)
Excerpt:
AND WHAT ABOUT THE DEBT LIMIT?
Democrats have two possible ways to suspend the debt limit and let it rise for a designated period of time as Congress spends more and more money with inadequate revenues to cover the bill. Goldman Sachs economists wrote in a note last week that the current standoff is "the riskiest debt-limit deadline in a decade."
Former Treasury secretaries and Federal Reserve officials have been urging Republicans to support the increase. Democrats noted that they supported increases for Republican priorities during past Republican administrations.
Democrats could present a stand-alone debt limit increase as a gamble that there will then be so much pressure on Republicans to go along that they either vote for the bill or decline to "filibuster" it in the Senate. The latter would allow the bill to pass by a simple majority of 48 Democrats, two independents and a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Kamala Harris.
WHAT ABOUT BUDGET RECONCILIATION?
Budget reconciliation is a maneuver that bypasses the normal Senate requirement of 60 votes to advance a bill. It's the technique that the chamber's top Republican, Mitch McConnell, used to pass a sweeping tax-cut bill skewed to the wealthy when his party controlled the Senate in 2017. Now in the minority, he wants Democrats to use this to address the debt so that no Republicans have to vote for, and take responsibility for, a debt limit increase even though they want one.
But it's complicated.
Democrats could try to tuck language on the debt ceiling into Biden's sweeping $3.5 trillion social spending bill. But the party is deeply divided on that bill and it's not clear that moderates and progressives could agree on a compromise package in time to avert a default.
Another option would be to write a reconciliation bill focused on just the debt ceiling. That's also time consuming as bills trigger a much-despised process called a "vote-a-rama" with the potential for hundreds of amendments. The Senate has held multiple all-night sessions of that kind over the past year.
A stand-alone debt ceiling increase using the reconciliation process likely would have to be approved by the Senate parliamentarian since there are tight controls on its use.
Meanwhile, the Bipartisan Policy Center now estimates that the Treasury Department will fully exhaust its borrowing capability sometime between Oct. 15 and mid-November. Unless Congress acts in time, the U.S. government likely would lapse into default.