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The House passed a bill Wednesday at midnight to suspend the public debt ceiling, hours before the country is set to default on its sovereign debt.
The measure extends by $2.5 trillion the funds to meet the debts already contracted, which will continue to increase the deficit in the American public accounts.
The bill, which was approved in the House of Representatives with 221 votes in favor (from the Democratic caucus) and 209 against (Republicans) after being authorized hours earlier by the Senate, is now ready to receive President Biden’s signature.
The path for this bill to receive the green light was especially complicated in the Senate, where the vote was 50 in favor and 49 against.
Normally, any bill needs 60 votes to pass in the Senate.
However, the measure received the go-ahead with only 50 Democratic votes thanks to a deal reached last week by Senate Progressive Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Mitch McConnell.
Both changed the Senate rules in a timely manner so that the debt ceiling could be suspended only with the votes of the Democrats and without the support of the Republicans, since the conservatives have been flatly opposed for months to support any measure in this regard.
Former President Trump, for his part, criticized McConnell for having made a deal with the Democrats on the debt issue, and allowing them to increase the nation’s deficit.
