Both the House and Senate voted to raise the debt limit helping avert a first-time default by the U.S. as the clock ticked down on the government’s ability to pay its bills. This comes after months of fighting between Democrats and Republicans over raising the debt limit and spending in Washington. The resolution introduced in the Senate on Tuesday to raise the debt limit by $2.5 trillion passed along party lines, 50 to 49. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said this would mean Congress won’t have to fight about raising the debt limit again until 2023, beyond the midterm elections. The legislation headed to the House of Representatives for a vote, which took it up after midnight Wednesday after voting to hold former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena to appear before the House January 6th committee. The final vote tally was 221-209, with one Republican voting with all the Democrats.
For today, the Senate will take up the Motion to concur in the House amendment to S.1605, the vehicle for NDAA. Following that, the Senate will consider the nominations of Jennifer Sung to be United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit and Samantha D. Elliott to be United States District Judge for the District of New Hampshire.
The Senate remains in session as talks continue on a path forward on the Build Back Better legislation and the Senate works to clear a backlog of nominations.
The House is now in recess until the 2nd Session of the 117th Congress convenes on Monday, January 10th, 2022.
