The Senate will begin considering a bill on Thursday that would create a fast-track process allowing Democrats to raiseÌýwithout votes from Republicans, a crucial next step as lawmakers race the clock toÌý.
A first-ever default would trigger financial disaster and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned the debt limitÌý, leaving little time left to act. Party leaders on both sides of the aisle have made clear that default must be prevented, but Republicans have insisted that Democrats should bear the burden of raising the limit on their own.
The House took the first step to implement the fast-track plan on TuesdayÌýthat will set up the process. Now the action moves to the Senate.
The chamber will first have to clear a procedural hurdle to advance the measure that will require at least 10 Republican senators to vote with Democrats. If lawmakers clear that hurdle, a final Senate vote to approve the fast-track process could take place as soon as later in the day Thursday if an agreement is reached to speed up the process. If there isn't an agreement, the final vote is expected Friday.
Passage of the bill would then pave the way for Senate Democrats to take up and pass separate legislation to increase the debt limit by a specific dollar amount with 51 votes using the newly created fast-track process.
Although Republicans and Democrats have sparred over how to avert the looming debt limit crisis in recent months, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnellÌýthat will let Democrats raise the debt ceiling on their votes alone.
A number of top Senate Republicans have signaled they will support the fast-track debt limit plan. But McConnell has also faced pushback from some frustrated Republican lawmakers who feel the plan still amounts to their party helping Democrats raise the debt limit even as it paves the way for Democrats to ultimately act alone.
How action could unfold in the Senate
The first vote on track to take place in the Senate will be a cloture vote to break a GOP filibuster, which will require 60 votes to succeed. The Senate has scheduled that vote for around 12:30 p.m. ET Thursday.
McConnell predicted earlier in the week that there will be enough GOP votes to clear that threshold. The language to create the fast-track process has been packaged as part of a more popular bill to prevent cuts to Medicare, which will likely make it easier to round up the votes.
"We'll be voting on it Thursday and I'm confident this particular procedure coupled with the avoidance of Medicare cuts will achieve enough Republican support to clear the 60-vote threshold," McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said at a news conference on Tuesday.
Once the Senate passes the measure, it will go toÌý's desk for his signature. After it has been signed into law, lawmakers will be able to start the process of passing an increase to the debt limit under the new fast-track process.
How the debt limit deal came together
Congress has been struggling on and off with how to address the debt limit for over the past few months.
In October, lawmakers passed a short-term debt limit extension into December after Democrats and Republicans reached a deal to avert economic disaster following weeks of partisan deadlock over the issue.
The extension passed after Republicans first argued that Democrats should act alone to address the debt limit through a process known as budget reconciliation. Democrats rejected that idea, arguing that the issue is a shared bipartisan responsibility and that the process would be too lengthy and unwieldy, making the risk of miscalculation too high.
But McConnellÌýÌýBiden in October in a letter that Democrats should not expect Republicans to help again.
Democrats, however, held firm and continued to resist pressure from Republicans to pursue dealing with the debt limit through the time-consuming reconciliation process in the weeks that followed.
Earlier this week, McConnell rejected the idea that by brokering a new deal to stave off default with Democrats he has reversed his earlier position of saying that Republicans would not help Democrats deal with the issue.
"The red line is intact. The red line is that you have a simple majority, party-line vote on the debt ceiling. That's exactly where we will end up," he said on Tuesday.
"I think this is in the best interest of the country by avoiding default. I think it is also in the best interest of Republicans," McConnell said. "I believe we've reached here a solution to the debt ceiling issue that's consistent with Republican views of raising the debt ceiling for this amount at this particular time and allows the Democrats to proudly own it, which they are happy to do."
The-CNN-Wire
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