US Senate avoids debt disaster

“We have reached an agreement to extend the debt ceiling through early December, and it’s our hope that we can get this done as soon as today,” Schumer said on the Senate floor on Thursday.

The deal reached between Schumer and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell would raise the statutory debt limit by $480 billion, which would allow the Treasury Department to meet obligations through December 3, Xinhua news agency quoted a Bloomberg News report as saying.

The deal came as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen repeatedly warned that the US could default on its debt if Congress fails to raise or suspend the debt limit before October 18.

The White House on Thursday called the short-term debt limit extension a “positive step forward”, signaling support for the deal.

The debt limit, commonly called the debt ceiling, is the total amount of money that the US Government is authorized to borrow to meet its existing legal obligations, including social security and medicare benefits, interest on the national debt, and other payments.

– THE STATESMAN