President Biden Signs Debt Limit Increase, Averting Disastrous Default

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had warned that the debt limit could be reached on Wednesday, leaving Congress little time left to resolve the issue. A first-ever default could have sparked economic disaster and party leaders on both sides of the aisle had made clear it must be prevented. The Senate had moved on Tuesday to pass legislation to increase the limit in a vote that fell along party lines with a final tally of 50 to 49. The House then voted 221-209 in the early hours of Wednesday morning to approve the bill. GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois was the lone member to break ranks and voted with Democrats.

Ultimately, Congress voted to raise the national debt limit by $2.5 trillion and extend it into 2023 after lawmakers raced to avert a catastrophic default ahead of a critical midweek deadline. President Joe Biden on Thursday signed the bill raising the debt limit ceiling that passed Congress earlier this week, according to the White House.

Congress has been struggling for months over how to address the debt limit. In October, following weeks of partisan deadlock over the issue, lawmakers passed a short-term debt limit extension into December after Democrats and Republicans reached a deal to avert economic disaster.

JUST IN: The Senate votes 50-49 to raise the debt limit by $2.5 trillion.

The resolution will now go to the House https://t.co/8URc2wD6T9 pic.twitter.com/rDVujmdtSX

— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) December 14, 2021

 

It was expected that Democrats would increase the limit by an amount sufficient to ensure that the issue will not need to be addressed again until after the 2022 midterm elections. Failure to raise the debt ceiling in time could have also halted payments that millions of Americans rely on, including paychecks to federal workers, Medicare benefits, military salaries, tax refunds, Social Security checks, and payments to federal contractors.

We NEED the Senate to waive the filibuster just like they did for the debt limit and let 50 Democratic Senators pass the Freedom to Vote Act to fix our democracy.#DeliverOurVotingRights

— Grant Stern is boosted! (@grantstern) December 17, 2021

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Analysts have said a mild recession would likely be the best-case scenario in the event of the US government defaulting on its debts. The worst-case scenario would have involved downstream effects of potentially cascading job losses, a shutdown in tens of billions in Covid-19 economic recovery aid still set to be delivered, a near-freeze in credit markets, and other tangible hits that could last for multiple quarters.

The United States pays its debts when they are due. That’s why today, I signed a bill to fast-track the process to raise our debt limit. pic.twitter.com/Rx4MNC1XS9

— President Biden (@POTUS) December 11, 2021