1/ The House passed legislation to fund the government through Dec. 3 and extend the debt limit until after the 2022 elections in a party-line vote with no Republicans supporting the bill. The fiscal package is needed to avoid a government shutdown and a first-ever default on U.S. debt. The bill now heads to the Senate, where Mitch McConnell has vowed that Republicans won’t support raising the debt ceiling. Without 10 Republicans in support, the bill would fail to advance past the 60-vote filibuster threshold. “This is playing with fire. Playing games with the debt ceiling is playing with fire and putting it on the back of the American people,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. Failure to raise the debt ceiling could cost the U.S. economy 6 million jobs, wipe out $15 trillion in household wealth, send the unemployment rate to roughly 9% from around 5%, and plunge the country into an immediate recession, according to the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. Congress has to pass a funding plan by Sept. 30 to prevent a shutdown, while Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned told congressional leaders that the debt ceiling must be raised or suspended by some time in October, when the U.S. will exhaust all of its options to pay its bills. (NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC)
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2021/09/22/day-246/